South Africa’s soccer burden

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The World Cup soccer tournament opens in South Africa in seven weeks and South Africans are psyched. Hundreds of millions of dollars has been spent to build stadiums and improve infrastructure. And 360,000 foreign spectators are expected to bring their enthusiasm – and money – to South Africa for the tournament. All this attention should boost the country’s image and its people. But some South Africans view the World Cup as a burden that has made their lives worse. We’ll learn why from The World’s Laura Lynch. (photos: Laura Lynch)

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The only man allowed on the field at Cape Town stadium these days is the one riding the lawn mower – giving the vibrant green grass a careful trim. Cape Town spokesman Pieter Cronjes crouches down, runs his fingers across the top and smiles.

“The grass at this pitch where we are standing is really rye grass. This ground was meticulously prepared to be like a billiard table with many layers of drainage and soil.”

The stadium, with its breathtaking views of Table Mountain, cost about $ 600 million. Local workers were employed at every stage. But the one who’s become a little bit of a star here, is Zoliswa Gila.

“Good afternoon everyone. My name is Zoliswa. I’ll be your tour guide today.”

Zoliswa shows off the stadium to wide-eyed visitors up to four times a day. She likes to tell them about her part in building it.

“Okay guys, I need to tell you something about myself. I am the first female crane operator here in South Africa, so I helped to build the stadium.”

Zoliswa then, is one of the World Cup success stories in this country where more than one in four have no work. Her job and the training that came with it, ended four years of unemployment. And when her construction job ended, Zoliswa found work conducting tours. This is the legacy World Cup boosters cheer about. But half an hour’s drive away is a different story.

This is Tin Can Town as the locals call it – Blikkiesdorp is its official name. It’s also known as a temporary relocation camp – now home to hundreds of people who were forced from their homes and moved here – they blame the World Cup.

Sandy Rossouw says she was evicted from a hostel a few months ago because a nearby stadium was slated to be a training ground. Now she and her four children share a single bed in a leaky tin shack that measures just over twenty by twenty feet.

“Can you see the holes in there? It’s leaking inside, when it’s raining it’s wet inside and this place is very cold. You know these children do get sick around here.”

Each shack is spraypainted with a code number. There are no showers and outdoor toilets are shared. In contrast to Cape Town’s showy stadium, there’s not a hint of green – sand and gravel. Resident Jane Roberts says promises have been broken.

“We want a park for the kids and there’s no park. They promise us and they didn’t do the park. We asked just for a piece of grass for the kids and nothing’s happened.”

These aren’t the only people in South Africa who say the World Cup isn’t showering benefits on everyone. There have been demonstrations in Durban against evictions. Taxi drivers and street traders across the country say they’re being blocked from trying to do business during the event – what should have been a bonanza will instead mean a loss of income for them. Cape Town official Pieter Cronjes says people’s short term expectations are simply too high.

“The truth is that money won’t rain from the sky. The world cup was never a magic wand that would build houses, hospital and would cure poverty. But it’s about an event footprint and what it does is to create public investment, public infrastructure which is then followed by private sector investment.”

Workers are hammering bricks into place at the stadium, rushing to put the finishing touches in place. But when this work is done, few know what will come next. The same is true for crane operator turned tour guide Zoliswa Gila.

“I’m only working here now until next month. After next month I must find another job again you know.”

The government has talked of its hopes that the World Cup will reshape South Africa’s image abroad and it’s spent hundreds of millions to do just that. But it’s come at the expense of alienating some of the country’s poorest – who believe at least some of that money could be better spent helping them.

For The World, I’m Laura Lynch in Cape Town.

• Photo gallery for this story
• BBC coverage of the Soccer World Cup
• Living with South Africa’s foreign workers