JOHANNESBURG, April 9, (Agencies): Giant footballs and national flags line the streets as South Africa counts down to the World Cup, but with two months to go until kick-off, fears about violence and racial strife linger.
As the June 11 opening match nears, Africa’s much-anticipated first World Cup is materialising in football fever with South Africans donning team jerseys, flying flags and a marketing onslaught by host cities.
But concerns about violence and racial tension in the crime-plagued country have re-emerged after the murder of a white supremacist leader.
The South African government, which has spent 33 million rands (4.5 million dollars, 3.4 million euros) on the tournament, hopes to give a boost to the country’s image, luring foreign tourists and investment.
It is also counting on the event to build national unity in a country that still bears the scars of apartheid 16 years after the end of the segregationist regime.
On April 15, South Africans will for the first time be able to buy match tickets at sales windows instead of online, coming away with tickets in hand.
World Cup banners and football jerseys have become ubiquitous, and street vendors’ stalls are dripping with football gear.
Adding to the air of celebration, FIFA announced last month that the June 10 kick-off concert in Johannesburg will feature such international celebrities as Shakira, Alicia Keys and the Black Eyed Peas.
Recently, national flags have been flying from car windows even in white neighbourhoods, where football has never been popular, and giant inflated footballs have dotted host cities.
Last month the police department said it would deploy 41,000 extra police and keep the army on a “state of alert” during the tournament.
The country’s security measure also received a nod from the Interpol, which last month said it was satisfied with the country’s security plans.
But South Africa has in recent months seen scores of violent protests over shoddy public services in poor neighbourhoods, and violence over a new bus networks to overhaul long-neglected public transport ahead of the tournament.
The cities’ collective mini-bus drivers, who for decades enjoyed a monopoly as the apartheid regime, have protested violently against the systems.
As the June 11 opening match nears, South Africa’s worries also extend to the mediocre performance of the national side Bafana Bafana (The Boys), who will play Mexico at Soccer City in the curtain-raiser.
Coach Carlos Parreira said the team needs to improve its fitness and ball possession.
“If there’s one thing I’d like to see the team do much better, it’s in valuing the ball possession,” he told journalists.
“If you see games here in the league, it’s like table tennis. Go and come, go and come. Nobody keeps the ball.”
World Cup organizing chief Danny Jordaan said South Africa still has challenges to meet just two months before the start of the tournament. Security concerns following an upsurge in racial tensions and disappointing ticket sales are undermining the first African host’s preparations for the World Cup.
“We’ve achieved a lot, we still have challenges,” Jordaan said as the organizing committee reported that it was on track to deliver the tournament within budget.
When asked if organizers feared a violent reaction during the competition to the murder last weekend of right-wing leader Eugene Terreblanche, Jordaan said: “No, it’s not going to happen.”
There were already question marks over team and fan safety at the monthlong tournament before Terreblanche’s murder brought South Africa’s violent crime problem to the fore again.
FIFA and tournament organizers have said they will not comment on the case. FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke only addressed general security matters on Thursday.
“Whatever is happening, we are dealing with security and it’s not public,” Valcke said. “On security, we have done the maximum we can do.” On the readiness of the country to host the World Cup, Valcke said: “We are confident. We have been for a long time.”
Valcke likened the last two months of preparation to a train ride, with no more stops between now and kickoff on June 11, and no way back. “Whatever I’m hearing, whatever I’m reading, it’s too late,” Valcke said. “When you are organizing an event, you are waiting for the end, for the final, for July 12, where you can say, ‘Gosh, it’s over’.”
Valcke said the former head of operations at Interpol had now joined FIFA as its security adviser but did not say if it was related to an increased security threat in South Africa.
South Africa’s place in the international spotlight as host of one of the world’s biggest sporting events has coincided with a number of recent race-related incidents which have cast the country in an unflattering light.
Terreblanche, a notorious white supremacist, was bludgeoned to death last Saturday near the town of Ventersdorp, northwest of Johannesburg. Police say he was killed by two black farm workers in a wage dispute but Terreblanche’s Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) group say the murder was linked to the singing of a revolutionary song by black youth leader Julius Malema.
There were confrontations between blacks and whites following Terreblanche’s murder, and an AWB official stormed off a television debate Wednesday after arguing with and then threatening a black woman.
In the midst of this, the message from World Cup organizers is that the tournament will be safe and a success.
“The (World Cup) infrastructure is not just in place; it is world class.” Jordaan said. “Our stadiums were ranked among the best in the world. We have 68 percent of our budget left to deliver the World Cup and we have completed the stadiums.
“We are in a good position to deliver the event, which we want to be world class.”
Jordaan said this World Cup was about the people of the country embracing the event.
Organizers hope there is still both time and a desire for visitors to come to the country and boost disappointing ticket sales.
“Be South African and be a good host,” Jordaan said to the home fans on the same day Malema, the president of the ANC’s youth league, swore at and then asked security to remove a foreign journalist from a news conference at the ruling party’s headquarters.
Jordaan would not comment on the incident, saying he did not know the details, but said: “All of us must act as good hosts.”
On broader World Cup issues, Jordaan said “This country cannot cut itself off from the international community.
“The teams coming here, (Lionel) Messi is an international and so is (Cristiano) Ronaldo and so is Kaka. This World Cup must reintegrate South Africa as part of the global community.”
Jordaan said the global economic climate — not South Africa’s reputation — had affected ticket sales.
Foreign visitors are expected to fall well short of the 450,000 expected for the tournament, but organizers remain positive, saying ticket sales compared favorably with the same point in 2006 ahead of the World Cup in Germany.
Organizing committee chairman Irvin Khoza said he was confident that South Africa could overcome the world’s skepticism ahead of the “biggest show on planet earth.”