ADDRESS OF THE MINISTER OF SPORT AND RECREATION SOUTH
AFRICA (SRSA) IN THE PLENARY OF THE (INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC
COMMITTEE) IOC 7TH WORLD FORUM ON EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL
LEGACY OF THE FIFA WORLD CUP.
7 DECEMBER 2010
DURBAN
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
PLENARY 3
THEME:
“GIVING VOICE TO YOUTH”
Progrmme Director;
Mr Hichcam El Guerrouj; Member of the IOC Commission for Culture and Olympic
Education;
Mr Nick Fuller, Head of Education, London 2012 Get Set Programme;
Ms Christiane Paquelet, Administrative and Cultural Director, NOC Brazil;
Prof. Yoganathan (Yoga) Coopoo;
Mr Alan Harris, YOG Young Reporter;
All protocol observed.
Ladies and Gentlemen
South Africa has hosted a string of mega-events since 1994, including the 1995
Rugby World Cup, the 2002 UN World Summit on Sustainable Development, the
2003 Cricket World Cup, and now the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In 2009 alone,
lesser major events such as the IPL Cricket Tournament, the Confederations Cup
and the ICC Champions Trophy took place on South African soil.
Mega-event promoters assure all parties of excellent benefits. Even if the event
generates a monetary loss, it is believed that the benefits in terms of
international exposure and tourist arrivals will be more than compensated. Since
around 1998, however, a new wave of studies from previous host countries has
suggested more mixed effects.
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For example, assumptions are that mega-events will boost the economic growth
of host cities and have a long-term positive effect on the country’s Gross
Domestic Product (GDP). One Korean study of sports events since 1954 found a
modest pattern of increase in the year following an event, but another study
found no statistically significant correlation. A study of income and employment
data after the 1994 Football World Cup in the United States found that nine of
the 13 host cities suffered subsequent declines in growth. Overall, the 13
locations suffered losses on balance of over US$ 9 billion.
Studies on the impact of mega-events on employment and economic
opportunities are similarly mixed. Economic projections tend to overestimate the
benefits and underestimate the costs of such an event. For example, most jobs
related to mega-events are created in the construction and tourist sectors, but
tend to be short-term and often menial, and the extent to which most workers
will share in the increased skills development and profits generated is not clear.
The influx of foreign tourists associated with mega-events should benefit the
local curio sector substantially. Yet merchandising opportunities around megaevents are often jealously protected by international sporting organizations
through stringent rules and regulations which prohibit curio traders from
benefiting from the influx of tourists.
However, a number of studies have indicated the potential importance of the
more ‘intangible’ benefits of mega-events such as the World Cup. Sport has
historically been employed as a means to enhance nation building and provide us
with socio-cultural ‘touchstones’. As President Zuma in his address to the country
on the opening of the World Cup explained:
The South African flag has become the most popular item on the shopping list of
South Africans and this augurs well for nation building. This explosion of national
pride is a priceless benefit of the world cup tournament.
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The “Football Friday” campaign was highly successful in getting the whole nation
wearing the BafanaBafana yellow football top, and thus showing support for our
national team. It was beautiful to see that our whole country had turned yellow.
For a good few months we could feel something special. Nobody could say what
it was. It did not matter. We all agreed that the World Cup was here, and we
could feel it. Kenako! This campaign itself inspired BafanaBafana, and
demonstrated once again, the uniting power of sport. When Bafana were sadly
knocked out of the tournament, all South Africans united behind the remaining
African teams.
When all African teams where knocked out except Ghana, you will recall how we
united behind them as Africans, and even coined the name BaganaBagana. Most
German supporters in the country also united behind Ghana after Germany was
knocked out. Friends, this clearly illustrates that sport is a universal language,
one that gets all people, no matter what their background or status, to pour their
energies and emotions into supporting their stars. It instills a sense of patriotism,
like no other activity in the world can. We in the Olympic Movement must
therefore use every opportunity we can to capitalize on this lesson that Africa
has to offer. Find interesting and creative means to get a whole country to buy
into and support with heart and soul.
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is clear that millions of our people have waited for years and looked upon this
tournament with hope, pride and a sense of belonging. Sport has always played
an important role in our historical mission to build a united, non-racial and
prosperous South Africa and a better world. Almost all sports in our country,
such as rugby, athletics, swimming, hockey, netball and cricket have made a
contribution to build social cohesion and human solidarity.
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Importantly in a globalising world, mega events play a complex role in the
developing countries who host them. On the one hand such events link hosts to
the international community in significant ways, facilitating capital flows and
international networks but at the same time often play an important role in local
nation building efforts.
Thus developing countries generally tend to use sports mega-events in ways
highly distinct from developed countries. As a result of unequal global power
relations developing countries often seek to use mega-events to meet specific
political or foreign policy goals such as image enhancement and profiling. Megaevents allow host countries in the developing world to engage in international
activities beyond ‘objective’ measures of their international capacity and allow
them to compensate for the lack of sources of power and influence in the
international sphere. On the other hand mega-events need to be understood in
relation to, among other things, the sociology and politics of nations, particularly
the nation-building of host nations, and the motivations of participant nations in
terms of the presentation and recognition of national identities.
We are currently in the process of assessing the costs and benefits of megaevents such as the World Cup. We have partnered with our sister department of
Science and Technology, who have engaged the Human Sciences Research
Council to conduct the study. This study seeks to systematically examine claims
regarding the effect of the World Cup on social cohesion and nation building
through the collection of empirical evidence which will make it possible to
dispute, expand or detail these impacts in order to assist in the process of
translating these impacts into long term, sustainable, positive effects on social
cohesion and national reconciliation.
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There is evidence from other countries that an event such as the World Cup can
have a long term positive effect on social cohesion and reconciliation. Du Plessis
and Maennig, for example found that the 2006 World Cup had considerable
intangible benefits for Germany including a change in image and nation building.
The 2006 World Cup helped to alter previously negative perceptions of Germany
to one of the country being perceived as hospitable and welcoming. It also
assisted with nation building in relation to the division between East and West
Germany, and legitimized patriotism previously viewed as too reminiscent of the
Nazi era. The 2010 World Cup may have provided an opportunity for South Africa
to project a contemporary, reinvigorated image of Africa, to celebrate African
culture and identity and to enhance South Africa’s pride and identity.
Major international sporting events are also positively associated with enhancing
the prospects for, and quality of, a democratic life. It is argued that people feel
empowered by the successful staging of sporting mega-events and by
succeeding in the eyes of the world. Altringer argues that events such as the
World Cup lead citizens to develop a sense of common purpose with their fellow
country men and women and feel a greater sense of ownership of both the event
itself and the community of which they are part. Pillay therefore argues that
major international sporting events constitute striking moments of intense
identity formation, projection and patriotism providing the society with
opportunities to build and project common political identities.
On the other hand there are analysts who argue that sport has an inflated status
as nation builder and social unifier and that it is nothing more than ‘ninety
minutes patriotism’. Sport as a nation-builder, according to this view, has a
limited potential. Hendricks warns against the possibility that sport can be
exploited by governments, political parties and dominant groups striving to
achieve particular outcomes that further their own agenda. Coakley and Klein
note that although football may have brought people together in Brazil, there
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must be doubt about whether that had any impact on the political and economic
realities of that society.
In particular, they ask questions about whether (a) some groups benefit from the
“unity” more than others, and (b) whether the “unity” has any impact on issues
not relating to sport. Hendriks therefore concludes that the World Cup will not
impact significantly what he perceives as the foundation upon which nationbuilding can be achieved, for example improvements in the economy, education,
communication, health, and other critical aspects of the lives of the majority of
the country’s people.
A number of analysts have pointed to the need to put in place co-ordinated
‘legacy’ plans in order to try and capitalise on any of the potential benefits of the
2010 World Cup. Labuschagne, for example, notes that the effect of sport on
nation building could be made more enduring by careful planning and deliberate
efforts to ensure that its benefits are felt as widely as possible.
Fairweather also argues that a legacy plan is needed to ensure that as many
sustainable benefits as possible are generated by mega events for the host city,
region and country. Labuschagne notes that the media also plays an important
role in the process of social and racial integration through sport in a divided
country, for example positive coverage of the Rugby World Cup, in newspapers
such as the Sowetan, which re-named the Springboks, a national team previously
emblematic
of
segregation
and
apartheid,
with
the
colloquial
name,
‘Amabokaboka’.
Amongst the different areas that our research is looking into are the following:
•
Public confidence in state institutions (institutional trust)
•
Social trust (trust in others) in cross-country comparison
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•
National pride
•
National Identity
•
Citizenship
•
Race relations and redistributive policies
•
Xenophobia
•
Attitudes to inequality / relative deprivation
•
Fear of crime
•
Attitudes to service delivery
•
Constitutional values
•
Moral attitudes
•
Social networks / organisational membership
Sport and Recreation South Africa has also tasked The Human Sciences Research
Council with consolidating a report on the 2010 FIFA World Cup legacy projects,
programmes and initiatives within both the governmental and the non
governmental sectors. The report has been described as a ‘legacy audit’. While
some overlap is to be expected, two broad categories of legacies have been
identified, namely, tangible legacies and intangible legacies.
Tangible legacies include physical infrastructure (for example roads, stadia,
sports labs, sports houses, fan parks and dream fields), economic outcomes and
greening initiatives (by the national department of Environmental Affairs, City of
Johannesburg, other host cities, etc).
Intangible legacies on the other hand refer to the social and ecological impacts
of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and include contributions to the image of the
country, social cohesion and nation building, ecological sustainability and skills
transfer. These are examples only, and a detailed list of each type of legacy will
be developed as part of the study.
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Ladies and Gentlemen
The purpose of the audit is to document legacy projects across all sectors,
including those initiated by government, non-governmental and private business
organisations. The audit will identify strategic legacy projects, which it will focus
on rather than attempting to cover every legacy project that was initiated as a
result of the World Cup. Critically, the audit will not simply describe legacy
projects but will also seek to probe links between mega events such as the World
cup and the development objectives of the country, as the World Cup has been
widely posited as a catalyst for development in South Africa. The audit will lay
the basis for a future comprehensive impact study by examining the
developmental intentions of various projects so that it will be possible to later
measure these projects against their stated developmental objectives. This will
make it possible to properly assess the developmental benefits of the World Cup,
and will help inform strategic decision making about the hosting of future mega
events.
This project is, therefore, intended to serve as a blue print for future mega
events. While the audit is not an impact assessment of the world cup, the project
report will be expected to begin to articulate possible foci/questions for such an
impact study - to be conducted later when the impact of the World Cup over
time can be properly assessed. As well as a descriptive account of the initiatives
in place, it is important that the audit tells a story of how a mega sports event
can become the catalyst for achieving the country’s development goals. The
objectives of the audit are:
a) to create a historical record of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
b) to consolidate lessons for future mega events
c) to ensure public accountability
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Some of the specific questions that the audit needs to address in this regard
include:
a) what were the intentions behind each initiative?
b) what was the thinking of the country when it used the event to achieve its
developmental goals?
c) what examples are there from other countries that South Africa could
learn from, particularly for future mega events?
Ladies and Gentlemen, “Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining
in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with
culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy
found in effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal
fundamental ethical principles.”
The World Cup in South Africa has lived up to this philosophy. South Africans
have opened their homes and hearts to the football and other sports fans from
around the globe. Our hospitality was second to none. There were no holds
barred. We knew that the whole world had its eyes on us. The whole country
rallied behind the call to embrace our visitors and spoil them with our traditional
friendship and sincerity.
The players of our national team, BafanaBafana were disciplined, and
demonstrated fair play. Our football fans have been really disciplined throughout
the tournament, and there was no significant incident at the stadia. We
respected all who came to our land, and welcomed them to explore the streets
and canteens in our townships.
Many of them enjoyed the experience so much that they mentioned that they
would certainly return with their families and friends. This is what universal
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understanding is built on. It is only when there is such universal understanding,
and this feeling of brotherhood or sisterhood prevails, that we can truly say that
sport builds peace among people. Let us therefore ensure in future mega events
that social cohesion is promoted as an outcome.
When it comes to education, we have benefited tremendously from hosting the
World Cup. Firstly, our German friends ensured that there was skills transfer
from their 2006 World Cup experiences. These skills covered a wide range of
specialized areas, from football administration, to the planning of a mega event,
the preparation for the tournament, marketing, ticketing, engineering and
construction, risk management, financial management, etc. We also learned
about good customer care, hospitality, infrastructure development, transport,
security, law enforcement, etc.
This learning will stand us in good stead for the future. We can even assist our
next southern hemisphere host of the 2014 World Cup, Brazil. And in the spirit of
Olympism, we will. Therefore, may the spirit of Olympism be spread across the
length and breadth of our beloved land South Africa, so that all our people are
exposed to its philosophy and the positive lessons, values and attitudes. Long
live Olympism! Long live Sport!
I thank you!
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