JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Go ahead, South Africa, blow those vuvuzelas loud and proud. You deserve to toot your colorful plastic horns on the last day of this monthlong global party.
Pour yourself a glass of your fabulous Stellenbosch wine and toast yourself, for no matter who wins today’s World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands, the biggest winner is this beautiful, fascinating and, yes, still very troubled country.
The first African nation entrusted to host an event of this magnitude proved that it not only could deliver a well-organized, relatively crime-free, festive tournament, but also it could play host to nearly a half million guests with a rare brand of hospitality that surely will send visitors home with a much more positive perception than they had when they were packing to come here.
This historic World Cup also will leave an often fractured, still-healing nation with a cohesion and patriotism not felt since the rugby championship in 1995. The Rainbow Nation flag has been flying proudly from house windows, car antennas and South Africans’ backs.
Count this sportswriter among the skeptics who had serious doubts whether a country with 25 percent unemployment, abject poverty, a high crime rate, an AIDS epidemic, government corruption and racial tension could pull off this assignment.
It turns out, this city is like many in the United States. There are areas you don’t walk around at night and, yes, you might be approached at an ATM by someone trying to pull a fast one, but there also are many lovely neighborhoods and modern shopping malls and fabulous African art markets and exquisite restaurants and, most of all, delightful people who go out of their way to explain that their beloved country is so much more than the depressing images we see on TV.
When I got to Cape Town, I could not believe my eyes. The vibrant V&A Waterfront, at the foot of Table Mountain, is exactly what I always wished Miami’s downtown waterfront would be. The dramatic landscape around the Cape Peninsula is a combination of Hawaii, the Greek Islands and the Northern California coast. The vistas are breathtaking, and you get to mingle with penguins, baboons, ostriches and seals along the way. The wine country rivals Napa’s.
And the people, like those in Johannesburg, have such a wonderful spirit. Black and white and everything in between, they share a common pride in their complicated country, even though they are quick to point out its flaws. Every taxi driver and tour operator I rode with — Gift, Fuad, Veetek, Bobby and Brian — gave me an education in South African history that I couldn’t have gotten in any book.
Same goes for the guest house owners I stayed with — Mina and Barry and Anne. And, the wonderful, inspirational people I met in Soweto and in the Cape Flats, a massive ghetto with a population of about three million, where in spite of the horrid living conditions, residents greet visitors with huge smiles and are happy to discuss any topic.
I will go back to Miami recommending that all my friends make it here some day, if they can.
All that said, one gets the feeling that there will be a horrible World Cup hangover here the next few weeks, months and even years. People were promised that the $5.2 billion party would change things, make life better in some tangible way.
If that meant improved roads, airports and stadiums, then yes, the promise was fulfilled.
But will the World Cup drop the unemployment rate, which is as high as 50 percent in some areas? Will it cure the AIDS epidemic? Will it feed the hungry? Will it prevent the xenophobic attacks against Somali and Zimbabwean immigrants that the country is bracing for in the coming weeks? Will it unite the government’s feuding factions? Will it end political cronyism and corruption? Will it provide adequate housing for people living in one-room tin shacks with no running water or toilets?
Is there more FIFA and World Cup organizers could have done during this month to raise global awareness of the problems here? Wouldn’t it have been a good idea to have taken all those multimillionaire athletes to the townships not only to inspire children but perhaps tug on their heartstrings and deep pockets? Could a portion of all the three million tickets sold have gone to South Africans who truly need help?
FIFA president Sepp Blatter gushed this week about the state-of-the-art stadiums South Africa built for this World Cup. And one is left wondering: If they could deliver such a first-class sporting event and build stadiums that are the envy of the world, why can’t they tackle their country’s social and economic problems? It’s a question that will haunt me for a long time.
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