Govindraj Ethiraj: South Africa gets ready for the kick-off

DOUBLE EDGE

I follow soccer occasionally, but I wouldn't claim to be a die-hard fan. But I would wonder whether even die-hard fans of the game have noted the remarkable manner in which the Republic of South Africa is coming together ahead of the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup. Something I would have been blissfully unaware of had I not met a group of very interesting South Africans at a recent gathering in the US.

If there is a "neutral" view that summed up the mood in the South African contingent I interacted with, it might be this statement by Mondli Makhanya, the young Editor of The Sunday Times of Johannesburg. "All of South Africa is coalescing towards 2010," he says.

A bit about Mondli before returning to soccer. South Africa has a free Press. But its boundaries, by his own admission, are being tested. A few months ago, his paper ran a series of exposes on Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimng, accusing her of jumping the queue at the Johannesburg General Hospital for a liver transplant. The Sunday Times also accused her of misusing hospital facilities. The campaign has landed Mondli in trouble with the Government.

Last week, on September 15, South Africans marked the 1,000-day milestone ahead of the kick-off. FIFA Local Organising Committee CEO Danny Jordaan was reported saying that there was a shared vision and commitment by all South Africans that this world Cup must work. "And as the country reaches this important milestone, it is time to reflect on the progress we have made as a nation, and what country we want to be by 2010," a report quoted him.

So it was more than just a Cup, I noted. But how much more? I put this question to another young South African, this time a bureaucrat. Bongi Kunene is a senior official in the Deputy President's office. She has, apart from other things, a pretty sound understanding and analysis to offer on Africa's AIDS problem. But that's another story.

The challenge we do not have, she told me, is to make the Cup appear cool and desirable to fans from all over the world. "That we are not worried about." Our challenge is to go beyond that, to present a face of South Africa the world has not seen as yet, she says. It's not easy, she says, because they have to fight constant references to whether South Africa can swing the event. "People speak of crime, our inability to host such an event, how far we are from the rest of the world."

Actually, she adds, there are other problems too, some small, some not. "But we see it as a new platform to do something." And what was that, I asked. "Improve everything that has lagged, from the taxi service to the road and rail networks." She could not give me figures on the road and rail part except to say the first rapid rail system was being introduced "" the first in all of Africa "" and much of the road and rail efforts were focused on improving efficiency and quality.

South Africa has a large informal transport service, in the form of mini-cabs and mini-buses. The problem, Kunene says, is that they are unregulated and unsafe. So the government is providing a special subsidy so as to ensure that visitors to the Cup are treated well. "You get 50,000 Rand to renounce your taxi and convert into a new, legal one."

There is work happening on the tourism side as well, for instance, a focus on the creation of Bed & Breakfasts and not just five-star hotels, since most soccer fans may prefer to rough it out. Aviation infrastructure is being stepped up and the skies are being opened up. This is of course apart from several new stadiums that are being built.

Was it all about football, I asked Kunene. "It's not just about football, for social cohesion, you just can't beat sport. There is always the feeling that the best team should win. There is adrenalin flowing, emotional excitement that everyone is coming together. And yes, we have not had anything like this the Rugby Cup in 1995 and the Africa Soccer Cup in 1996. But FIFA is bigger."

Later, Mondli performed the foot-stomping Toi Toi "" the resistance dance that in many ways characterised the opposition to apartheid "" for a group of us. The energy is amazing and the combination of sound, bass and movement can captivate any one. As I could see it, while memories of the fight against apartheid are fresh in his mind, as it is for other South Africans of his age, he has newer battles to fight, and they will set the very standards democracy for future generations.

But there is a bigger task ahead and one that had a lesson for me as an Indian as well. Nicola, a key contributor to South Africa's broadcast policy framework, put it like this: "The challenge for us to use the energies that created our democracy to further our ambitions today."