Immediate reality check as visitors leave

The last cheers had hardly died down at Soccer City, when it was back to business as usual in South Africa. Despite government ministers dismissing warnings of impending xenophobic attacks as mere rumour mongering by opposition leader Helen Zille, the media and a sinister third force hell-bent on undoing South Africa’s very positive current world image, the attacks began last night. And south of Johannesburg, the township service delivery protesters went back to work, blocking the Golden Highway with burning tyres.

Meanwhile, with the infrastructure build programme connected to the Fifa Soccer World Cup now largely something of the past, high unemployment – coupled to tense labour relations manifesting itself in the current wage negotiations season – adds to the more sombre domestic picture when it is stripped of the glamour, razzmatazz and euphoria of the World Cup.

While analysts and commentators are wracking their brains to figure out what the measurable longer term benefits for South Africa will be of spending R33 billion on the highly successful World Cup, the stark realities of real life for many ordinary South Africans continue unchanged.

President Jacob Zuma believes the billions spent have bought South Africa “priceless” benefits in race relations, patriotism and national solidarity. He told investors after the Cup final that lasting improvements in communications and transport had been achieved.

Projects such as the 1Goal campaign in education have also been borne from this extravaganza.

Media reports and mini polls all suggest local business leaders are confident that the benefits of the World Cup will be felt for many years to come, some even likening its marketing value for Brand SA to that associated with the release of Nelson Mandela two decades ago. Business leaders say the country has undergone a psychological metamorphosis, with a revitalised national self-image and rediscovered national pride and unity being the major achievements of this massive investment in the soccer extravaganza.

But they all add a cautionary note, saying the country will need to build further on these achievements to make a lasting difference. And therein lies the rub, as none of the many problems confronting South Africa has gone away during this past month of magical make-believe.

The legacy of South Africa’s World Cup will be an abundance of world-class sports stadiums, gleaming new or upgraded airports, new bus services, the Gautrain, improved road infrastructure in some places (mainly in the vicinity of soccer stadiums used during the tournament) and increased, more effective and more visible policing.

What has not been constructively affected by the World Cup, however, is high unemployment, extreme levels of poverty, housing shortages, high levels of crime experienced daily by ordinary South Africans, service delivery failures and related violent protests, corruption, racism and xenophobia, poor public health services, massive problems in education, climate change developments and impacts, recovery from the recession, agricultural and land-related pressures, electricity and on water resources, and more.

In addition to this, political meddling by the African National Congress (ANC) government in South Africa’s judiciary and criminal justice system, threats to media freedom, an ongoing centralisation drive by the ANC, economic policy pressures, high levels of tensions within the ANC and the ruling Alliance, and serious leadership lapses continue.

The legacy of the World Cup, however, offers respite. In the words of Roger Jardine, chief executive officer of construction firm Aveng, as quoted by Fin24.com: "The need for public-private partnerships has been elevated during this period. These must be expedited so that the nation can leverage the balance sheets, technical skills and project management expertise of the private sector to deliver water, power, roads, hospitals and general infrastructure. With such programmes come new skills and jobs."

In other words, perhaps the greatest legacy of the World Cup is to be found in the energy, skills, expertise, knowledge, teamwork, drive, programmes and focus produced during the country’s preparations for the World Cup – a legacy that should now be harnessed in a project-driven approach to South Africa’s many challenges as has already been called for by business and political leaders. Whether the ANC government will heed these calls – once it returns to politics as usual – is another matter.

In the interim, however, the sordid reality of the downside of living in South Africa continues, nowhere more starkly illustrated than in Sunday night’s xenophobic attacks. After a night of sporadic attacks on, and looting of foreign-owned shops in Western Cape townships, about 100 foreigners from townships in Paarl, Wellington, Franschhoek and the Cape Flats were given refuge in police stations. Most of the victims have been Somalis and they have been advised by police to leave the townships.

This follows weeks of growing rumours and indications that xenophobic violence was about to return to South Africa’s townships at the conclusion of the World Cup – rumours and indications that the country's police bosses tried to dismiss as the work of the media, opposition leaders, agents provocateurs and non-patriots. (See full report on xenophobia) This, unfortunately, is the other side of the glittering World Cup coin.