hi there my name is noel i am from south africa and i live in switzerland. currently i am doing research on south africa's image and how it may change in the light of the world cup, more specifically i would like to gather perceptions of the country from communities on line. so i would like to chat to some of you and find out what images come to mind when you think of sa...do you think an event like the 2010 world cup will change the current images you have? till later noel
well....i see even "Boer" people supporting bafana bafana...which in the past would have been taboo. The historic Bulls games at Orlando Stadium is a summary of what the event has done...it has shifted paradigms and brought paople of all races closer....and will continue to do so. A once labelled "black" sport by South Africans, will hopefully become a great game for them as well. I believe it already has, because my best friend has started watching soccer, and even this old lady i know...and they're enjoying the game. This means people of all race in this country will have more in common. And not think that soccer is a bad game just because most people who watch it here, is of colour.
I say yes, the WC will change South Africa and I list the reasons why I say so - Billions of rand have already been invested in constructing and upgrading roads, rail, ariports and other infrastructure. - The racial line that used to devide our people is fastly fading away. - South Africans especially of the disadvantaged backgound have been going out of their way to make sure that get involved in crime fighting initiatives, innovation etc. - The world now know about South Africa and I guess most of pessimistic people have changed their thoughts. -
hi Emmex, thanks for your insights! It sounds like you are from SA or not? What's the atmosphere and mood like in SA at the moment? if you are not there can you imagine what it would be like just from what you have read and heard in the press? I would have loved to be there!
Hi Pule, great to hear a positive response. Thanks! I have heard the opposite from some South Africans, they have experienced more crime related incidents and are unhappy about the huge amount of taxpayers money spent on the stadiums. Are you in SA at the moment? From your message it sounds like you live there, or not? What's the atmosphere like?
Nolawola - not sure who you're speaking to - disgruntled ex-pats maybe? - but there almost unanimous agreement (a rare thing in SA) that the WC has been a great success so far and has brought everyone together. I mean, to see rugby loving supporters in places like Polokwane and Pretoria embrace soccer - wow! To see everyone in the country, white and black, fly their flags and wear the "bafana" yellow - wow! To see the tournament run smoothly with little negative incidents and happy fans - wow! As for crime being worse? I have read reports of the exact opposite - with crime levels dropping. see: http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article506161.ece/Crime-drops-with-beefed-up-policing - Maybe even hardened criminals are enjoying the soccer?
This was always going to be the World Cups biggest legacy-that South Africas image would improve on many fronts This can already be seen by the large amount of people that have decided to go over since the WC started once they realised the sky wasn't gonna fall in The image that the iconic new stadiums present to the construction world is fantastic.SA can build on time and on budget The very warm hospitality from everyone contrasts the crime infested image certain media quarters wanted to project The weather has been a revelation.Can't believe the locals are saying its cold when I see blue skies and get around in a t shirt The racial harmony was far better that other folks would have you believe
It really depends what image you felt SA had before the tournament and I think many people from SA felt the outside world had a lower opinion than is actually the case. Certainly I felt, especially amongst people under 40+ years old there was a genuine feeling of hoping and trying for a united country and the welcome and atmosphere for the tournament was fantastic and as good as I could have hoped for but then this is the best and most uniteing event in the world and it would dissapointed if it was anything less. It will be interesting to see how everything is for the next few weeks because after Mexico 1986 I felt there was a really hangover and the moment the Final was over the locals attitudes hardened. I doubt this will happen here. I still think this was probably the most enjoyable tournament i have been to but I would never return partly when PE is called the friendly city and yet in a quiet suburb every house has bars on all windows, some have razorwire round the garden. It seems essential to have guard dogs,we are told never to walk in the dark, not even in the local park except in groups during the day. All houses have big signs saying Armed Police response. Our Guest House had 4 keys just to get into the bedroom and we needed someoone to let us out of Building as all gates were locked. I fear these are realities not something made up by the Daily mail. Like me I would suggest that many were very pleased with the abnomally large and reassuring security arrangements and they will say what a beautiful country it is but there are still the reservations that were had before the tournament. As it is SA is a very big tourist destination so I cannot see the WC making much difference to those figures. The image in my mind of teh coutry before tournament security aside was of the wealthiest country in Africa and due to this and the geographical positioning, plus the mix of races I found it difficult to feel this was a particularly typical African country and so when FIFA kept going on about this being a WC for the whole of Africa I felt this was pretty tenuous and rather patronising and after the event I feel even more so. For so many reasons the number of fans travelling from the other 5 African countries were minimal. I never doubted SA would put together a really good tournement and the fact that the terrific stadia were sorted so early on certainly gave credence to that. In 2006 Germany had this bizarre logo of a 'time to make friends' as if for some reason everyone hated them as some hangover from the 1940s which of course was guff. This time I felt SA were trying to prove something as if the rest of teeh World saw them as some dusty outpost with nothing to offer and this was never the case and has led to a lot of overreaction on another site where locals seem incapable of not grossly talking up their country with the word beautiful as often as possible and it really is not necessary. There are of course aspects that will change in hopfeully the short term. We all knew it was a lovely country and so in conclusion I feel the image will not change because generally speaking it did not need to.
for me personally not. I've had a pretty positive image of SA before the WC, and that has not changed. I've never been there though, still on my list of countries to visit.
From the sounds of things, it seems that certain cities (Cape Town, Durban) got rave reviews while Johannesburg usually did not.
I live in South Africa but it took 7 years for me to visit Jo'burg during the summer rather than the winter and it was a revelation. I finally understood its appeal. So long as it is not raining, Cape Town is a much more pleasant city during the winter months! And I was highly sceptical beforehand but the City of Cape Town really came through on making the new stadium at Green Point work. People are genuinely excited here about the future use of the stadium. As a contrast, Port Elizabeth never got out of the starting blocks as far as integrating their new stadium with the city. Furthermore the poor design of the stadium (too open to the elements, notably blinding sunlight and drenching rain!), will not endear it to the public.
What we really care about here is not the IMAGE but the REALITY of South Africa. Though you might come to the opposite conclusion based upon being here this past month. FIFA run the WC the in the same manner as any modern day government. They are self serving, self dealing, totally conscious of image and ruthless with anyone who gets in their way. The WC was always going to look great on TV ... anything else, like airport and park and ride snafu's ... just collateral damage The long suffering South African public really took to the WC as escapism. For months, almost nobody cared about the coming WC but we were incessantly bombarded by feel good TV commercials that spawned a culture of its own in the stadiums and fan parks and in society as a whole. Now it's back to reality, or is it? We are scratching our heads here. Why did we not have power outages this past month? Where were the take down robberies, the cash in transit heists? Car jackings went away, didn't they? Hey, how come the "cool drink" industry did not run out of carbon dioxide as they claimed they did last year? Will the cities once again become the principal site of business for the nation's beggars and pickpockets? Now if all of a sudden, South Africa has found a way to change the day to day reality of living here, the 2010 WC will be a watershed event. Let's see what the REALITY is in 6 months' time!
It changed for me. Not having been there before, my view of South Africa was formed largely by the media. Because news coverage focuses on the negative -- crime, high HIV/AIDs exposure (if it bleeds, it leads) -- and because of ex pats and others painted such a dark picture of South Africa, I had some concerns about what it would be like in South Africa. The reality of South Afica was a very pleasant juxtaposition to the negative image. The people of South Africa were warm and inviting. The scenery of many of the places we visited (Kruger, north of Durban, the Drakensburg and Magaliesberg Mountains, and particularly Cape Town) was fantastic. I would expect that others whose expectations were influenced by the international news media would have the same reaction I did. I have a different and more nuanced view of South Africa. Sure, the income disparity and residual effects of apartheid are negatives, but the country also has a lot of things going for it.