The African world cup that never was

Millions of men, women and children have withstood repression,depression,suffering and death in uprisings, civil wars, boarder disputes and coups all in the name of nation building and developing African states in the image and likeness of the industrialized Northern nations. It’s too high a price to pay. The object of anti-imperialist nationalism and Pan-Africanism was not the nation –state but rather justice, equity, dignity, prosperity and freedom of domination (Bunting, 2000, pp87-88). This statement appears more poignant with each passing day especially when we look at the impact of the 2010 World Cup being hosted in South Africa. This is an African moment or chance that was supposed to “benefit” especially neighbouring countries to South Africa. The subtle herald for the world cup arose hope and life especially to our resurrecting economy amid rumour that most teams participating in the world cup were going to establish bases in Zimbabwe. This brought a fairytale experience especially among the locals who were already beginning to cast their hope on this great experience that was going to change their lives forever. Apart from this fairytale experience, those in the property business were beginning to borrow loans so as to build lodges and hotels for this great event. On the other hand those in the transport sector had the temerity to buy more and more taxis which would ferry people to and from airports. On the other hand the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and its ally, the Ministry of Tourism did not spare us. From time to time we saw them on television bragging that Zimbabwe was bracing up for the World cup because they had done “enough” marketing to convince the world that Zimbabwe was a “safe “tourist destination. One thing that I thought about critically before the world cup kickoff was the state of our boarder towns. If one is to visit a town like Beitbridge today, many would see schizophrenia in the authorities. In fact they would see how unserious they were especially about the world cup.Beitbridge being close to South Africa was supposed to have an Infrastructure upgrade. What we have in Beitbridge is a sad story. Upon entrance you are welcomed by donkeys and scotchcarts.Apart from this, the roads themselves reveal a typical remote growth point in Hukuimwe.Were these small towns not supposed to be developed in the spirit of the world cup? The problem that we have is that of a country that keeps on harping on the same theme of Zimbabwe being a safe tourist destination. More emphasis has been put there and I think whoever was supposed to receive the message got it a long time ago. Little or nothing meaningful has been done in the regard of improving infrastructure in these small boarder towns. One “positive” thing we have seen as far as the world cup is concerned is the availability of large screens where people pay their hard earned dollars to watch the beautiful game of football. Those with night clubs and bottle stores have since joined the gravy train where people have no option but to watch soccer there since ZESA has failed to fulfill their part of their bargain. This is a sad story comrade. Is this the ideal African world cup that many anticipated? To say the least, there is really nothing tangible for Zimbabweans to show for after the soccer showcase. We gave so much into the World cup and yet harvested nothing. For example ZTA and the Tourism ministry paid a hefty us$ 2million dollar to the Brazilian team for taking part in a “friendly” game. What’s friendly about it if a poverty stricken country such as Zimbabwe pays that huge amount so that they play a friendly match and yet we are failing to pay our arrears to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank let alone our warriors? Maybe if that money was converted to something useful it could have been better. We have a majority of our population living under the poverty datum line. Now the ugly truth now stands before us. Surely the much awaited African world cup has come and yielded nothing to our benefit. Sadly to say, those who had borrowed loans are going to struggle repaying them while them who went on a building madness building lodges and buying taxis are going to be left in the cold having pocketed not even a cent from the world cup. Who can be blamed for this great loss of chance and opportunity? Maybe we should take solace in the fact that Ghana, an African team tried their best but i would like to believe that only South Africa benefited greatly but here in Zimbabwe it is a sad story. Blame can be attributed to those who did not do serious marketing of our country for the purpose of tourism and recreation. For us Zimbabweans, this was an African World cup that never was. Rawlings Magede is a social commentator and writes from Nkayi, Matebeleland North and can be contacted on rawedge699@gmail.com or http//no-rawedge.blogspot.com