World Cup delusions will come back to bite us

TODAY marks the beginning of compulsory national happiness and collective amnesia for four weeks. The race war is temporarily called off. Beggars have been swept off the streets even in cities run by self-declared liberals. I suppose we would not want the Germans to notice our drunken uncles, lest they (the Germans, I mean) forget to return for the Christmas break. Not that we will succeed. At least one Daily Mail reporter will stumble upon our ugly Blikkiesdorp truths. Many of us are holding thumbs that even criminals will impose a four-week moratorium on themselves. All of this belatedly raises the question of whether the World Cup is worth it. I don’t think so.

One of two major benefits is that this event is one huge , positive public relations stunt. It is a chance to defeat Afro-pessimism. The rest of the world thinks we cannot stage an event of this magnitude successfully. Well, let’s disprove them.

Furthermore, SA have had some nasty international press coverage in recent times. Themes have ranged from the politically late Thabo Mbeki ’s irrational AIDS denialism to President Jacob Zuma ’s colourful carnal shenanigans, and in between all of that our various social scourges, such as violent crime, as well as economic and political scourges, such as tenderpreneurship and puzzling voting patterns on the international stage. The narrative about SA has not been cool. This is an opportunity to have a more positive story projected into the wide world. This constitutes the rebuilding of much needed social and political capital.

The second major benefit is that we seemingly have another shot at rainbow nation myth creation. Recall we were on the brink of a race war a few weeks ago, when a famous farmer was killed somewhere in the North West province? At least, that was the reality constructed by sections of both the print and broadcast media, who were hell bent on rehearsing and confirming their own fears.

I digress. Whether myth or reality, many see the World Cup as a chance to bring about genuine and lasting social cohesion and permanent postracial nirvana in the wake of overpowering racialism and racism. From now on, we will live in a colour-blind society, where white Afrikaans peeps from Pretoria will routinely hang out in Soweto and blacks, including members of the Black Management Forum, will shred their race cards as a gesture of goodwill.

Well, sorry fellow citizens, but all of this is one big self-delusional, self-inflicted half- truth, to put it mildly so that I do not spoil your excitement too much.

Of course one cannot deny that the public relations benefits are important. For better or worse, yes, Africa needs to defeat false beliefs about her capacity to make a positive contribution to life in the global village. I will grant the fact that the World Cup, if we pull it off over the next four weeks, yields that outcome.

However, the social cohesion stuff is silly. We just do not learn from history. The 1995 Rugby World Cup is falsely remembered as proof of sport’s ability to be a catalyst for bringing out lasting social cohesion. Films such as Invictus perpetuate such lies. The 1995 Rugby World Cup is, in fact, proof that sporting events can at best offer a temporary reprieve from disunity, not unlike the joyous feeling of slipping into a warm bath in the middle of winter. After a while, of course, the water gets cold and you are yanked back into reality, especially when Eskom has made it too costly for you to add more hot water.

The only way to ensure genuine social cohesion and a lasting reduction in inter- group anxieties is to tackle the real drivers of disunity, which are of course our immoral levels of income inequality and criminal levels of poverty. After the last German has left, these drivers will remain untouched. Consequently, any sense of national cohesion is temporary at best and fake at worst. It is irresponsible to imagine otherwise.

Besides these exaggerated advantages, there are also economic and sovereignty costs. One is the economic lie that we will see positive returns on the R32bn or so spent on the World Cup. With the global recession still affecting everyone, tourism is unlikely to get a boost. Furthermore, even if the gross domestic product improves, only some folk, such as the owners of big construction companies, will eat most of the additional pie.

Second, the loss of bits of our sovereignty to Fifa is both disgusting and, had civil society challenged it, surely also unconstitutional. Think, for example, of patients whose operations are postponed by four weeks. Add to that exemption for Fifa from tax laws, municipal bylaws restricting trade, and other questionable parts of the deal.

In the end, our deep insecurity about being incompetent Africans drove our excitement to take on this project. The opportunity cost will come back to bite us, however. I suggest you keep your vuvuzelas safe. You may need to donate them to folks in Blikkiesdorp to distract themselves from poverty that forgot to leave SA on an aircraft with the last football fan. The opiate that is mass sport is cruel fun.