World Cup Blues

As the South African World Cup draws to a close , SOYMB reads that one of the local newspapers is asking whether it was worth $5-billion to produce a mood of national well-being. When the World Cup ends the euphoria will soon fade, but South Africa’s harsh problems will remain: poverty; unemployment; poor housing; unofficial segregation and deep inequality. Millions of South Africans live in tin shacks without electricity or running water – and without hope of seeing the inside of the World Cup stadiums. The gleaming new venues will be little use to the country when the World Cup is over. The national soccer league cannot fill the stadiums, and the rugby leagues don’t want them. Most of the stadiums will be white elephants, sitting empty for the majority of the year, with millions of dollars in annual maintenance costs.

Marcus Solomon was a political prisoner with Nelson Mandela on Robben Island for a decade, he was a leader of the famed Makana Football Association, which fought apartheid through soccer. After his release from prison, he campaigned for sports facilities for children across the country. Today he condemns the World Cup as a multibillion-dollar waste of precious resources and an insult to the poor. “There’s all this hype in the media, selling it as God’s gift to the poor, but it’s for the elite,” he says. “It’s a crime to spend so much money on professional soccer. Billions are being spent on new highways to the stadiums, but meanwhile there are no roads in the townships.” Mr. Solomon said. “People are desperate to play soccer, but there are no facilities in the townships. They have to play on the side of the road, or wherever they can. This World Cup doesn’t benefit anyone except a few soccer bosses.”

Eunice Mthembu, founder of a community group in Soweto, says the World Cup is a diversion from the needs of ordinary people. She predicts a surge of street protests in the townships after the global tournament is over. “I don’t see any improvements for the poor,” she said. “The poor will be paying more for electricity and roads and stadiums.”

FIFA expects to earn $3.2-billion in revenue from the World Cup this year. For the entire month of the World Cup, FIFA has been exempted from many of South Africa’s normal laws and taxes. It enjoys a virtual monopoly over marketing, licensing and almost all economic activity anywhere near the tournament’s 10 stadiums. “It’s obscene to see how the government has turned over the country to FIFA,” Mr. Solomon said.

Critics have said that this was an elite event, for wealthy athletes and affluent spectators, at a cost of $5-billion in government funds, and it provided little direct benefit to the largely impoverished people of this country.