SA 2010, catalyst of African development

The World Cup in South Africa has the potential to leave the greatest legacy of all – to promote peace and harmony in a troubled continent

FIFA says it stands to make at least USD 2bn from the 2010 World Cup event. The South African hospitality industry is also set to profit massively. As South Africa 2010 is being presented as an African event, how will Africa benefit in the longer term?

Once a no-go area, the Johannesburg CBD is currently
undergoing a complete overhaul where business and residential
buildings are now mixed together to improve the quality of life

“The most important legacy we can make is by putting proper facilities in place,” says Barbara Creecy, Gauteng MEC Sports, Arts, Recreation and Culture. “Our intention is to ensure all facilities can play a role after 2010. We want to improve our competitiveness and ensure that young people get a better chance to participate.”

Building a better life
New hotels, improved airports and faster bus systems rank highly amongst the development projects connected to the event. Dr Lindiwe Mabuza, the South African High Commissioner to the UK, says: “Already, SA is feeling the benefit of improved human resources development, advances in telecoms and infrastructure as the preparations are well underway.”

Alongside this, much emphasis is placed on improving social conditions. Sports can play a vital role in changing society and FIFA is well aware of this. FIFA’s head of corporate social responsibility (CSR), Federico Addiechi, says: “We realise that for the first time in history we can be associated with leaving a legacy. We want to use the powerful game to attract attention.”

An important part of FIFA’s CSR profile is its ‘Win in Africa with Africa’ programme. This funds the construction of an artificial turf pitch in every African nation to contribute to raising the quality of the game.

Other programmes include the Dream Fields project, whereby companies fund the donation of soccer kits to schools. John Pearlman, founder of the project, supports the role sports can play. “We are trying to re-establish school sports. You won’t achieve much when you organise an HIV/AIDS event at a particular place, but through football you will attract the people you are looking for much more easily. And by combining the sport with a serious issue like HIV/AIDS it will be easier to get a message across.”

The 2010 World Cup will also leave an important legacy for the future of bidding for major events. “For the first time, corporate social responsibility is part of the group that decides how bidding will look in the future,” Addiechi adds.

This raised awareness of CSR is also promoting international trade. Speaking in London in March 2009, Mabuza said: “With the countdown to 2010 ever closer, the notion of sport as a catalyst of social development continues to give us great scope to explore areas of potential cooperation, from training and development to business opportunities. It will promote trade and investment in Africa as well as show the continent’s development issues on the international agenda.”

United by sports
Sports play a surprisingly prominent role in diplomacy. Wars have started over sports, and wars have come to a respite thanks to sport. The International Olympic Committee actively aims for every Olympics Games to contribute to the promotion of peace.

Former Liberian striker George Weah has experienced this at first hand. “During the time I played for the national team, fighting in my country would stop and people would watch the match together.” Weah remembers the days when factions in Liberia were fighting over power and wealth. He has now become an UNICEF Goodwill ambassador and spreads the message all over the African continent, where many violent conflicts are still being fought. “Through sport people can be unified,” he says.

Getting kids into teams, not gangs
Rugby legend John Allan sees the 2010 event as an opportunity to create a legacy and bring rugby and football together. “We want to build 400 ‘legacy parks’ where children can use the artificial grass pitch during the day and corporate teams use it in the evenings. Together with the field, we will build a facility with changing rooms and where people can buy drinks. The facility can also be rented out for presentations or functions.”

Allan envisages an even bigger legacy. “We have an agreement with the South African Police Service that they will pick up street children in the neighbourhood and drop them off at the facility. The children will get a meal voucher and can play all day long, thus removing them from the streets and preventing things from getting worse.”

For a nation where many people still rely on donations or live on the streets, such an initiative will be a welcome contribution in preventing children from becoming involved in petty crimes and ending up in gangs.

Other events
A successful World Cup is likely put the South African host cities in a strong position to bid for future events. “We see ourselves now in a far more favourite position for bidding for hosting other events. As a matter of fact, we already think: what is next?” says Barbara Creecy.

One city that already has a master plan in place for another event is Durban. Municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe says, “We are looking towards a future when we will hopefully host the Summer Olympics one day.” The city’s new Moses Mabhida Stadium is designed as such that the capacity could be increased to 95,000 seats to meet IOC requirements. The stadium will also have a running track to make it suitable for the main venue for a Summer Olympics, Sutcliffe says.

Durban has already taken its first step towards accomplishing this dream: in 2011 the IOC will have its meeting in the coastal city. This presents every opportunity for the municipality to show its readiness to host another of the world’s biggest events.