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What happens after the Fifa Soccer World Cup is all over?If you are a believer, you would be forgiven for thinking that this is the year in which Jesus would come again. Heck, even if you are the spawn of Satan, you still would not be frowned upon for believing. Now, before you shout blasphemy and reach for your cuppa…
If you have been resident in South Africa for just less than a decade, then you know that the 365-day cycle in which we find ourselves has been billed as the alpha and omega, the year we played hostess on behalf of the continent to the world’s greatest sporting event.
The largest marketing campaign this country has ever seen has perhaps not yet convinced the world that we are worth our salt, but do not doubt that it has brainwashed the Rainbow Nation.
I have been scratching my bald spot trying to recall when the seed was first planted. For years, we have wanted ‘to be there’; now that we have arrived, now what?
What was a very strong marketing campaign targeted at youth morphed into a much bigger monster, a giant fuelled by that 2004 outcome in Switzerland where South Africa won the bid to host the World Cup.
A tag line with ellipses intended for you to fill in your own story soon turned into a homogenous story. Masses believed, and no doubt still believe, that this soccer showpiece would bring wealth and finally unshackle us from our despicable past.
In my first year at varsity at the time, I sat in a common room with the rest of the jocks, plotting how I could best position myself to cash in; with six years to go, surely there was plenty of time.
The reality is that I had no road map. Reality is that I would have needed a Garmin™ to perhaps come close to being positioned well enough to make a buck.
There I sat, as a fortunate middle-class kid; what about the millions of South Africans who could only dream of the jump-start in life that my
parents afforded me? But the dream continued.
I often wonder if Danny Jordaan and his boys, and the government realise that what they were offering South Africans was not merely an opportunity to have the world on their doorstep and for one month perhaps feel that sometimes elusive sense of patriotism.
What they were giving us was the audacity to hope. Or perhaps they were trying to replaster the cracks in the hope that was built in 1994.
The audacity to hope for a better life.
For I am sure even Barack Obama would agree that the audacity to hope appeals most to those who simply have nothing else to hold on to.
South Africa is ranked 129 out of 189 countries on the 2009 Human Development Index.
The index considers three basics of life to calculate its outcomes: life expectancy, adult literacy, and gross enrollment in education as well as purchasing power parity. The unemployment rate for the first quarter of 2010 has increased.
A simple Google search will reveal what numerologists suggest 2010 is about. Hold on before claiming blasphemy. It is suggested that this is the year of leadership, “our search for it as well as our personal struggles to achieve it”.
The year 2010 has been robbed of its status, bullied by 31 days. What about the orphaned 334? Where will your life story be on 12 July?
“Legacy” is a word that has been bandied about ad nauseum. Do not make the mistake of allowing this tournament to derail you from your own legacy.
For the record, this is not an anti-World Cup tirade, I have my tickets; it is simply a plea to not get lost in the illusion of hope.
Rob Vember
