Soccer World Cup excitement is at fever pitch, with locals from all walks of life gearing up for the massive events.
The Mail & Guardian‘s profile series captures the stories of people involved in the preparation for the tournament.
Elias Maluleke (52) doesn’t look like a construction worker behind the steering wheel of his taxi. He is dressed in formal pants and a striped white shirt with a Zion Christian Church badge pinned to the left pocket. Maluleke was one of more than 2 500 workers employed to build the Cape Town stadium in 2007.
“The stadium was built by African men from all over the continent,” he tells the M&G.
“We, the people who took part in building the stadiums, are proud of what we have been able to do.”
Green Point, now renamed Cape Town stadium, received a massive facelift when it was turned into a 70 000-seater, all-weather, multi-purpose world-class stadium.
Joint contractors Murray & Roberts and WBHO completed the massive project in 33 months after several strikes by construction workers.
Maluleke, originally from Soweto in Johannesburg, relocated to Cape Town for a year and six months to help construct the new facility, leaving his wife and two sons behind.
Originally contracted to work as a driver, he was later asked to lay cables to strengthen the foundation of the stadium.
He is proud to be one of the many African men from around the continent that were involved in the building of the structure. Although not currently in construction, Maluleke is willing to go back to that line of work if the opportunity ever presented itself.
In the meantime, he transports school children in his taxi from Soweto to their schools around the suburbs of Johannesburg and back home again. He has been doing this since he returned home at the end of 2008.
M&G: Where were the construction workers from?
EM: The construction workers were from as far as Nigeria, Ghana, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
M&G: After the stadium was built, what was the feeling among those who helped built it?
EM: We felt very happy because we had the opportunity to do that for our continent. We were also happy to expose our experiences, even abroad.
M&G: Do the children you transport know that you helped construct Cape Town stadium?
Elias Maluleke: No, they don’t know. I am doing a totally different thing now.
M&G: Why?
EM: My experience is actually in driving, I enjoy driving. I was actually hired as a driver but when I arrived in Cape Town one of my supervisors told me that I was going to do a different job. He said: “We are working with cables and steel here.” I told the gentleman that I had never worked with this thing before but he said he would show me how to do it.
M&G: Was the work difficult for you to grasp?
EM: It was not difficult for me really. It took me two weeks to learn how to use the machines and how to lay the cables. There was a guy working there called Raymond who taught me how to work the machines.
M&G: What do you hope will come out of this experience?
EM: We were also helping to build bridges with those cables, so we can also be used to build bridges where there are none. These skills can be used to uplift the continent’s development.
M&G: So are you planning on watching any games?
EM: I haven’t received my tickets yet, but we were promised that all of those building the stadium would get two World Cup tickets. We can’t choose the games but I was told that I’d be watching a game played in Cape Town.
M&G: Are you excited about the World Cup?
EM: Yes. I didn’t think that one day the World Cup would come to Africa. I am very happy because South Africa has shown the world that we can do it. When Fifa officials visited South Africa to check our stadiums, they said we had done really marvellous work.