Soccer

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Here in South Africa 2010 does not actually mean the year we are currently in, 2010 actually means World Cup soccer madness. Living in South Africa all we have heard about for the past year is 2010, who will be playing, how do we get tickets, are we ready for 2010? Now I like soccer, while I was living in Spain we watched Barcelona or Real Madrid most days of the week, but I don’t LOVE soccer. Here in South Africa people LOVE soccer. This World Cup has great significance for Africans since it is the first time it has been played on African soil. South Africa has the chance to host this huge event and show the world what an African country is capable of. This seems to be the promotional idea, but the truth of it is that the World Cup will affect South Africans in a manner of ways and will keep affecting them long after the tourists go home. There are a many controversies we hear on the news here daily one of the big ones that many of my classmates and professors are involved with is the closure of the Warrick Market which is a place that vendors sell everything from fruit to cow heads. This market provides food and livelihoods for many people here in Durban and developers wanted to close it down in order to build a mall. Over the past year there have been numerous meetings and protests and while the fight still moves on, the developers have lost their chance to build their mall before 2010. Another big problem that is occurring is that prices for everything will and are already skyrocketing. People are renting their homes out for extraordinary rates, and flights are 10 times more than they were this time last year. People are trying to capitalize as much as they can on this event. While this will obviously hurt the South Africans who are trying to carry on with their lives during this month long event, it also is detrimental to the future of tourism in South Africa. The World Cup gives the opportunity of tourism but if people cannot afford to come to South Africa, chances are they will not return again in the future. There are many other controversies that stem from having a large event like this in a country with extreme poverty and unemployment but in a matter of months when the tourists go home the real effect on South Africa will be seen, the question is will it be positive or negative? These photos are from the Bafana Bafana-South Africa verus Zimbabwe game that I attended in the new Durban World Cup Stadium.

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Photos

Predictions for the game which actually ended up being true!
Zimbabwe President - Mugabe, South African President - Zuma