Nobody can deny that so far the Soccer World Cup games in South Africa are a huge success. Of couse, here and there a few foreign visitors have been robbed (or shot), ticket sales continued to be a shambles, and there has been a considerable amount of ticket fraude, but such things are to be expected anywhere when such a large event takes place. Meanwhile South Africa leaves no stone unturned to polish up its image in the eyes of the world. Which makes complete sense - who wouldn't? And so far soccer fans are very enthusiastic about what they have seen of South Africa, and South Africa is even thinking seriously about 2020 and hosting the Olympics. The mayor of Durban even goes as far as stating that the world has finally realized that South Africa is a very safe country with modern infrastructure and little crime, where everyone is nice and tourists are being treated honestly.
So why could anyone have any justifiable criticism on South Africa's hosting of the world cup games?
Well - one good reason is that there is more than just soccer that makes the world go around. And the question is whether or not the money and resources spent on hosting the world cup games are being spent wisely.
Although the ANC optimistically expects a 0.3% economic growth as a result of South Africa hosting the world cup games, the average South African won't notice anything about it. It's mostly other countries that profit. FIFA, which makes off with most of the proceeds, has been amply discussed in recent previous posts in this weblog, so we can be brief about that. But there are many more cases of the money going right across the border, never to be seen again. Even that oh so very South African symbol of soccer frenzy, the vuvuzela, is made China, while the trainer of South Africa's national team Bafana Bafana is a Brazilian, who takes a fee of a whopping 1.8 million Rand per month (!) home to Brazil. (To put that into perspective: that is roughtly five hundred to a thousand times the average workman's salary in South Africa.) Also a significant portion of soccer fan's spendings go into flights to South Africa, which have been booked abroad and are only a small part of which reflects in revenues in South Africa.
Domestic spendings also rarely benefit the average South African. For a few weeks hawkers have done good business selling flags, caps, shirts and other soccer paraphernalia (made in China) but the market suddenly (and predictably) colapsed when South Africa was eliminated from the games in the first round. Soccer-related business on a larger scale (the building of stadiums, urban renovation, catching up on a decade and a half of road maintenance, t cetera) has been left to only a few companies (the ones with the right political connections) and meanwhile government officials have a ball with what was left of the taxpayer's money.
Meanwhile the bills continues to add up. While the soccer craze has caused many South Africans to spend way more than they can afford, many government projects have been shelved and especially the building sector (which is very much dependent on government orders) is in dire straits. Even worse: in Nelspruit (which the ANC insists on calling Mbombela these days) the municipality has spent so much money on hosting the soccer matches that they now have no money to pay wages and municipal workers will have to go without. Nelspruit, little more than an sleepy agricultural hick town with ambitions, has spent more than 140 million dollar (note: dollar, not Rand!) on a brand new stadium, but after having seen a handful of soccer matches and a few days of fans filling up the local bars, Nelspruit has gone quiet again and nobody really expects that the stadium, or Nelspruit, will ever see a major, well-visited sports event ever again.
While the proceeds in terms of goodwill are difficult to calculate, it didn't take accountants firm Grant Thornton very long to work out that of the $5.5 billion dollars that have been spent on new stadiums alone, no more than $1.7 billion can ever be expected in return, and that South Africa itself won't benefit significantly from any of it. Of course, the soccer matches have caused a huge peak in visitor figures - but there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. The 32% extra visitors are mostly from Lesotho and Swaziland (independent kingdoms that lie within South African borders) and from neighbouring countries Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana - people who traditionally don't have much more (and often less) to spend than South Africa, and often lodge with friends or family. Worse: during the world cup games the regular hospitality industry has only suffered - hugely. Discouraged by noisy soccer crowds and hiked prices regular tourists and business travelers stay away in droves, and the soccer fans themselves come to watch soccer and little else, and show nlittle interest in other tourist attractions, let alone in spending the night at tourist hotspots that are not in the immediate vincinity of a soccer stadium. And even there, during the soccer visitor peak, a significant percentage of the hotel rooms (which have been built in vastly overblown quantities) is left standing empty. After the world cup games are over this will only get worse, as the current soccer-related occupancy is of course totally insustainable.
Which brings us back to our initial question: can South Africa afford this extravaganza? The country has a considerable foreign debt which, for the moment, shows little sign of being under control - although the situation is stil far better than in, say, Greece. About half of the population has to live below the poverty line (defined at an income of $1.25 per day). Estimates of the actual percentage vary, because there are no reliable exact statistics, as many people living on the streets, in corrugated iron shacks or in cardboard boxes aren't registered anywhere. Official unemployment figures are over 25%, but here the same problem plays a role: literally countless people in South Africa do not appear anywhere in any official records whatsoever, so on paper they don't exist. Estimates of the actual unemployment rate vary from 40% to 60%. And not only black South Africans are affected - these days there are white shanty towns too, and they're not good. Other than that, South Africa has a record number of about 5.7 million people infected with HIV,
and while soccer fans have not been slaughtered by the dozen as some feared, the country is all but save and crime is a huge problem. The infrastructure (from roads and railways to the power grid and telecommunications) are in the process of collapsing.
So there is a lot that needs doing - important things; urgent things; things that South African citizens badly need. But during the past six years little has happened (except for the soccer venues and related visitor hot spots) because all attention and effords have gone to preparations for the soccer world cup. And there's no money left to do any of them now, either, because of the astronomical cost of hosting the games. And by now even the most naive have realized that the world cup is not going to bring in any money (recent estimates predict a loss of about 27 miljard Rand) and that the lasting economic benefits that the soccer world cup games were going to give us all is nothing but a fairy tale.
Showing posts with label world cup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label world cup. Show all posts
Yet again England have scored a brilliant result in the World Cup (not). I wonder what causes world class players to suddenly lose all the excellence they have in their club games and turn them into a bunch of opportunity missing jessies!
It looked like the star play Rooney was home sick and missing his baby, and the rest of them clearly couldn't support the rest of the team. I may not be the expert, but if a formation aint working then the simple solution would be to change it wouldn't it?
Still onwards and upwards to the next game - England V Slovenia let it be 5 - 0 - I'd like to win one of my free bets on Opinion World!
It looked like the star play Rooney was home sick and missing his baby, and the rest of them clearly couldn't support the rest of the team. I may not be the expert, but if a formation aint working then the simple solution would be to change it wouldn't it?
Still onwards and upwards to the next game - England V Slovenia let it be 5 - 0 - I'd like to win one of my free bets on Opinion World!
Oh deary me. South Africa's national pride Bafana Bafana got clobbered with a three-nil score last night by Uruguay. What a shame. South Africans are heart-broken. Many fans honestly believed that Bafana would do well in the World Cup matches, and even (dare one say it) have a chance to win the World Cup.
Right.
Bafana Bafana are, what, (Eighty-fourth? Eight-seventh?) on the world ranking list? And these people honestly think that they'll now become world champions? If South Africa hadn't been hosting the game, Bafana wouldn't even have qualified for playing at all. I mean, really, guys.
But at least the vuvuzela's are a lot quieter now...
Update:
To add insult to injury, a power cut following the disastrous match stranded some 2000 mourning fans who were on their way home. Having responded to the general call to use public transportas much as possible, fans were stranded in a crippled commuter train (without heating at several degrees below freezing) for two to three hours, with the last fans only arriving at 03:30. Train operator Metrorail finally had to resort to steam locomotives to get the fans to their stations.
I shit you not. Steam.
Right.
Bafana Bafana are, what, (Eighty-fourth? Eight-seventh?) on the world ranking list? And these people honestly think that they'll now become world champions? If South Africa hadn't been hosting the game, Bafana wouldn't even have qualified for playing at all. I mean, really, guys.
But at least the vuvuzela's are a lot quieter now...
Update:
To add insult to injury, a power cut following the disastrous match stranded some 2000 mourning fans who were on their way home. Having responded to the general call to use public transportas much as possible, fans were stranded in a crippled commuter train (without heating at several degrees below freezing) for two to three hours, with the last fans only arriving at 03:30. Train operator Metrorail finally had to resort to steam locomotives to get the fans to their stations.
I shit you not. Steam.
Soccer is not a game anymore - and it hasn't been for a very long time. Non-profit organization FIFA alone raked in 3.2 billion dollar during the Soccer Worldcup 2010 cycle (2007 - 2010) and has budgeted for an income of 3.8 billion dollar for the upcoming cycle. With that kind of money it is only a matter of time before criminals step in and try to take their share - which they have, in plenty.
For starters there is of course FIFA itself, with its doubtful methods of protecting its income. For example, sponsor Budweiser is the only beer allowed at soccer worldcup venues. So when a group of Dutch women tried to attend the games dressed in the orange mini skirts bearing the brand name of small Dutch brewer Bavaira, they were summarily arrested and jailed through a law that had been drawn up for the occasion in response to demands from FIFA. Seeing as about 30% of FIFA's income is derived from sponsorships, FIFA will stop at nothing in order to protect its sponsorship deals. Which is easy, because when politicans smell money and glory (both of which come with hosting a soccer world cup event) they are happy to bend over if that will help them to join the fun.
Another important player is the so-called "betting mafia" which has prompted FIFA to establish an early warning system that monitors around 400 major bookmakers world-wide for signs of match fixing. And then there are the small traders who try to sell merchandise that hasn't been bought from FIFA wholesalers at ridiculous prices, which FIFA also counts among the criminals.
But that is by no means the worst - at least not in terms of human suffering. Much more misery can be found in West Afrika, something that has increased during recent years thanks, in no small part thanks to the soccer world cup games being hosted in Africa. Countries like Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana, to name a few, appear to offer an excellent soccer climate: they have provided the world with numerous brilliant (and promising) players. African soccer prodigies are a popular import product with European clubs. Soccer players are merchandise - merchandise with considerable value. For the merchandise this trade doesn't always end well. But even more serious is that in West Africa, where there is trade, crime is never far away.
In the slums of West Africa you will find no jobs, no food, and no plumbing. What you will find is thousands of young men who, for lack of a better occupation, spend their days practicing with a football, and drreaming of being discovered by one of the prestigious Europan clubs. Deep down inside they know that it takes more than some agility and ball handling skills to become a big soccer star, but in the face of the misery that is their daily lives they are more than happy to ignore that reality. As if to to attend that shortcoming, there are countless "soccer academies" around who promise to train up these aspiring young football talents into full-fledged players. At a price, of course... but often families are willing to give up everything, spend whatever savings they may have and sell what little they own, in order to give one of their children a chance for fame and glory, a decent future, and an income that would feed them all and then some. But the sad reality is that the "football academy" always turns out to be a miserable slum that the aspiring hopeful young soccer talents will never leave. Technically one may not call it slavery as such, since the victims are not property in a formal sense, but de facto it is, and at the very least this is to be classified as human trafficking, - although "inhuman" would be a better term. Criminal fraudsters usually pretend to be talent scouts representing the best European football clubs (especially British clubs seem to be popular) and promist a golden future in European soccer - as long as the "expenses" get paid up front. But instead of a golden future the victims end up in apalling conditions where most of them are stuck for life.
An interesting documentary on the subject is "Soccer's lost boys" (of which, unfortunately, I can only find a trailer on the 'web (suggestions, anyone?) and Aljazeera is currently running an episode of their series "People and power" on it, which can be viewed online (at least at this time of writing) and which I heartily recommend.
Update: A full version of "Soccer's lost boys" can be seen here.
For starters there is of course FIFA itself, with its doubtful methods of protecting its income. For example, sponsor Budweiser is the only beer allowed at soccer worldcup venues. So when a group of Dutch women tried to attend the games dressed in the orange mini skirts bearing the brand name of small Dutch brewer Bavaira, they were summarily arrested and jailed through a law that had been drawn up for the occasion in response to demands from FIFA. Seeing as about 30% of FIFA's income is derived from sponsorships, FIFA will stop at nothing in order to protect its sponsorship deals. Which is easy, because when politicans smell money and glory (both of which come with hosting a soccer world cup event) they are happy to bend over if that will help them to join the fun.
Another important player is the so-called "betting mafia" which has prompted FIFA to establish an early warning system that monitors around 400 major bookmakers world-wide for signs of match fixing. And then there are the small traders who try to sell merchandise that hasn't been bought from FIFA wholesalers at ridiculous prices, which FIFA also counts among the criminals.
But that is by no means the worst - at least not in terms of human suffering. Much more misery can be found in West Afrika, something that has increased during recent years thanks, in no small part thanks to the soccer world cup games being hosted in Africa. Countries like Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana, to name a few, appear to offer an excellent soccer climate: they have provided the world with numerous brilliant (and promising) players. African soccer prodigies are a popular import product with European clubs. Soccer players are merchandise - merchandise with considerable value. For the merchandise this trade doesn't always end well. But even more serious is that in West Africa, where there is trade, crime is never far away.
In the slums of West Africa you will find no jobs, no food, and no plumbing. What you will find is thousands of young men who, for lack of a better occupation, spend their days practicing with a football, and drreaming of being discovered by one of the prestigious Europan clubs. Deep down inside they know that it takes more than some agility and ball handling skills to become a big soccer star, but in the face of the misery that is their daily lives they are more than happy to ignore that reality. As if to to attend that shortcoming, there are countless "soccer academies" around who promise to train up these aspiring young football talents into full-fledged players. At a price, of course... but often families are willing to give up everything, spend whatever savings they may have and sell what little they own, in order to give one of their children a chance for fame and glory, a decent future, and an income that would feed them all and then some. But the sad reality is that the "football academy" always turns out to be a miserable slum that the aspiring hopeful young soccer talents will never leave. Technically one may not call it slavery as such, since the victims are not property in a formal sense, but de facto it is, and at the very least this is to be classified as human trafficking, - although "inhuman" would be a better term. Criminal fraudsters usually pretend to be talent scouts representing the best European football clubs (especially British clubs seem to be popular) and promist a golden future in European soccer - as long as the "expenses" get paid up front. But instead of a golden future the victims end up in apalling conditions where most of them are stuck for life.
An interesting documentary on the subject is "Soccer's lost boys" (of which, unfortunately, I can only find a trailer on the 'web (suggestions, anyone?) and Aljazeera is currently running an episode of their series "People and power" on it, which can be viewed online (at least at this time of writing) and which I heartily recommend.
Update: A full version of "Soccer's lost boys" can be seen here.
Currently nothing happens on this planet - except for the Soccer World Cup games in South Africa. At least, if we are to believe the South African press. So it's time for another Soccer World Cup update! The party is in full swing, vuvuzela's won't be banned and everyone is happy. Right?
Wrong.
The first cracks are beginning to appear in South Africa's official image of soccer success. Security staff in at least four stadiums are on strike and demand higher wages. In accordance with tradition in South Africa, such a strike comes with considerable mayhem; blocking roads and emptying rubbish bins into the streets is part of the fun. In Durban a few platoons of riot police joined in, with tear gas and rubber bullets, which contributed to the festivities no end. Security in the stadiums has now hastily been taken over by the local constabulary. Security staff has been sent home, but on their way there they found the time to pause and set fire to their employers' offices.. Today more protests followed as 3000 people marched in Durban to protest the Soccer World Cup spending, and its negative impact on their livelihoods. One protester has been killed.
National electricity supplier Eskom is gearing up for a strike as well. Trade unions believe that this is a good time to demand an 18% wage increase and if they don't see money soon the lights in South Africa may very well go off. And heaters, too, while this winter in South Africa is unusually chilly.
The bus strike has been resolved, but not before whole bus loads of soccer fans on their way to a match were dumped by the side of the road rather than delivered at the stadiums. Transport is a problem anyway. Although FIFA has released huge quantities of "category 4" tickets (at prices starting at R20, which is about 2 Euro's) in order to fill up the stadiums at any cost, there are still huge empty spaces during many matches. FiFA blames distribution problems and wholesalers who have made off with large numbers of (unsold) tickets, which in part is true, but everyone knows that large numbers of fans were not delivered to the stadiums until well after the matches.
South Africa is also waking up to the fact that the Soccer World Cup won't net South Africa one cent. The heaps of gold that wre promised turn out not to exist (now there's a shocker!) and most of the revenues are going straight to FIFA in any case. Of ourse FIFA (a non-profit organisation) did demand free hotels, hospital reservations and a tax exemption. Meanwhile accounting company Grant Thornton has calculated, on the back of a napkin, what we all have known for a long time: of the $5.5 billion that were spent on new stadiums, we won't see more then about $1.7 billion returned. Meanwhile nobody has any idea what these expensive stadiums will be used for after the games are over, and the Institute for Security Studies points out that even the money spent on the Cape Town stadium alone could have housed about a quarter million people who currently live in corrugated iron shacks. Incidentally, the Cape Town stadium was built when FIFA decided that a renovation of the existing stadium was not good enough.
Meanwhile 36 Dutch fans have been arrested and detained for wearing dresses sporting the Bavaria beer logo, and told that they faced a possible 6 months imprisonment. Today two more arrests were made in Roodepoort. "These women, who have been part of a larger group, are suspected to be involved in organised acts to conduct unlawful commercial activities," police spokesman Col. Vishnu Naidoo said in a statement. The two women have been released for now, but (as is usually the case with serious criminals like these) they had to pay R10,000 bail each, and surrender their passports. They may not leave South Africa until their case is brought to court.
Now the scary part is that any transgression of FIFA marketing rules has been made into a criminal offence in response to FIFA's demand that the South African government do so. Yes, Sepp Blatter rules the nation - in a very literal sense.
Wrong.
The first cracks are beginning to appear in South Africa's official image of soccer success. Security staff in at least four stadiums are on strike and demand higher wages. In accordance with tradition in South Africa, such a strike comes with considerable mayhem; blocking roads and emptying rubbish bins into the streets is part of the fun. In Durban a few platoons of riot police joined in, with tear gas and rubber bullets, which contributed to the festivities no end. Security in the stadiums has now hastily been taken over by the local constabulary. Security staff has been sent home, but on their way there they found the time to pause and set fire to their employers' offices.. Today more protests followed as 3000 people marched in Durban to protest the Soccer World Cup spending, and its negative impact on their livelihoods. One protester has been killed.
National electricity supplier Eskom is gearing up for a strike as well. Trade unions believe that this is a good time to demand an 18% wage increase and if they don't see money soon the lights in South Africa may very well go off. And heaters, too, while this winter in South Africa is unusually chilly.
The bus strike has been resolved, but not before whole bus loads of soccer fans on their way to a match were dumped by the side of the road rather than delivered at the stadiums. Transport is a problem anyway. Although FIFA has released huge quantities of "category 4" tickets (at prices starting at R20, which is about 2 Euro's) in order to fill up the stadiums at any cost, there are still huge empty spaces during many matches. FiFA blames distribution problems and wholesalers who have made off with large numbers of (unsold) tickets, which in part is true, but everyone knows that large numbers of fans were not delivered to the stadiums until well after the matches.
South Africa is also waking up to the fact that the Soccer World Cup won't net South Africa one cent. The heaps of gold that wre promised turn out not to exist (now there's a shocker!) and most of the revenues are going straight to FIFA in any case. Of ourse FIFA (a non-profit organisation) did demand free hotels, hospital reservations and a tax exemption. Meanwhile accounting company Grant Thornton has calculated, on the back of a napkin, what we all have known for a long time: of the $5.5 billion that were spent on new stadiums, we won't see more then about $1.7 billion returned. Meanwhile nobody has any idea what these expensive stadiums will be used for after the games are over, and the Institute for Security Studies points out that even the money spent on the Cape Town stadium alone could have housed about a quarter million people who currently live in corrugated iron shacks. Incidentally, the Cape Town stadium was built when FIFA decided that a renovation of the existing stadium was not good enough.
Meanwhile 36 Dutch fans have been arrested and detained for wearing dresses sporting the Bavaria beer logo, and told that they faced a possible 6 months imprisonment. Today two more arrests were made in Roodepoort. "These women, who have been part of a larger group, are suspected to be involved in organised acts to conduct unlawful commercial activities," police spokesman Col. Vishnu Naidoo said in a statement. The two women have been released for now, but (as is usually the case with serious criminals like these) they had to pay R10,000 bail each, and surrender their passports. They may not leave South Africa until their case is brought to court.
Now the scary part is that any transgression of FIFA marketing rules has been made into a criminal offence in response to FIFA's demand that the South African government do so. Yes, Sepp Blatter rules the nation - in a very literal sense.
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