I remember you giving a speech on last year’s campaign trail about how football had taught you political lessons. Please explain?
Football is a team sport and it instils in you the discipline of working as part of a team, because even if you are talented there is not much that you can do on your own. You need others to play their part and so on, and in a sense it also prepares you for life because you set a goal … It teaches you to think strategically as well as tactically — in motion because there is no point at which you are static except during the interval. It also teaches you that it is not only the player who is in possession of the ball who is most important. The teammates must be running into playing areas thus making it easy for that player [with the ball] to have options. So there are many lessons, for government as well. I mean right now, having had to prepare within set timelines for [the World Cup] with set targets, government departments which ordinarily work in silence have learnt the important technique of better co-ordination— That is one of the lessons that I think, if lifted by government and applied in addressing our challenges of education, [providing] infrastructure in rural communities and so on, I think that we can use and change the face of this country.
You also played football on Robben Island in the Makana League?
Yes, we had teams in prison. I played for a team that had a Namibian name, Komesho, which means ‘going forward’. We were mixed with the Swapo prisoners from Namibia. I played various positions depending on the strength of the team. Sometimes I played as a defender, certain periods as a striker. Most of the time I played in the midfield.
What are your expectations of what the World Cup will bring, and how it will affect in South Africa?
The privilege of hosting this World Cup has helped us. When the rest of the world was hit by the global economic meltdown, we as a country had already pumped money into the preparations for this tournament and that served as a counter-cyclical measure because during the economic recession, the only sector of our economy that continued to show positive results was construction and that was primarily because of the construction work of the stadiums, the expansion of the road network, the construction of new hotels in the hospitality industry and so on— It has also, in a sense, got the nation behind our national team, our national squad. The nation to better appreciate the national anthem and the national flag … So by just experiencing this enormous sense of belonging, many of our people will be asking: “How are we to sustain this?” …
Looking at the original Bid Book for the World Cup, there seems to have been some gross under calculations on our part. The upgrade for Soccer City, for example, was to cost around R230-million, yet it ended up costing over R3-billion. How did we get it so wrong?
Construction material escalates, because parts of it had to be imported, and hence the escalations in the overall costs. But we think these are facilities that we were going to build in any case. What this privilege of hosting the Fifa World Cup did to us is that it compelled us to deliver them within the set time-lines and it is that which is invaluable in terms of the benefits that you are able to touch with your hands…
As an activist and a former trade-unionist can you comment on some of the horrendous things done in the name of football: the eviction of children from schools near Mbombela Stadium and the subsequent violent repression of their protest for proper schools, the criminalization and removal of the urban poor to transit camps and the eviction of shack dwellers from around training stadiums?
Lets deal with Mbombela … Two prefab schools were built as temporary schools on the undertaking that proper schools would be built there to replace the two schools. There were delays in commencing the construction of those schools because the [Mpumalanga] provincial government did not take advantage of the available resources there and then … And the community then marched. One thing I like about South African society is that it’s a nation of activists, if there is something of major concern to them, you will get to know. There is no way it will get swept under the carpet. So, once they marched, the police who where then detailed to control that situation were overzealous and people got injured in the process. The matter [was brought up] at a meeting of the inter-ministerial committee and we took responsibility. We said, [the protesters] are correct … So the inter-ministerial committee intervened, we sent out people, we got commitments and got proper timelines so that the schools were ready and handed over at the end of March because of that. You see, the suppression of the marchers … by the police should not even have happened, if only people stuck to the commitment and the timelines—
And the urban clean-ups of the poor?
My view on that is that the real needs of those people ought to be addressed fully and we must adopt a holistic approach to this … So the social development ministry has to come in there. It’s good that they are a captive community, so to speak, and after getting them all together under one roof, then their circumstances should be addressed. Those of them that can be sent back to school, they should be sent back to school with targeted support and progress monitored throughout. That’s what we do in the anti-poverty strategy … So, this must compel government to address their needs and if the situation at home is also contributing directly to these children preferring the streets that situation must also be addressed because in every household, even one that is thoroughly disorganised there will be one or two members who can serve as change agents in those households, with targeted support. And that’s what we should do.
Is there anything that you would have done differently in preparing Bafana Bafana?
The head coach [Carlos Alberto Parreira] has done fantastic work. He has addressed what were weaknesses in the entire organization of our national squad. He has been able to lift the overall fitness levels of our players. They are mobile, they run for ninety minutes and that’s why the game that they are playing has brought the crowds back. Remember only a few months ago they used to play in front of 4000 people. Now the venues where they play are sell-outs. He has done that, which is great. He has also, by taking them to camp and keeping them together, strengthened the team spirit because in a team players need to be able to read each others minds for them to be an effective team. I think he has achieved that and most important of all, they have a structure now and they play and they keep shape. In the past, in the first half you’d already see them sauntering around as if they have no business to be on the pitch at all, so I think he has done all the important things and he has done them correctly— And most important of all, in the past many of these players commanded their positions so there was no competition and there was lots of complacency. Now, none of the 23 players is guaranteed of their positions. It does wonders for their complacency.
There has been criticism of the 17 government guarantees to Fifa.
These guarantees you must give because you must present a better bid than others. Some of the others include countries with petro-dollars, who offer heaven on earth and when you are competing, of course you look at what you can afford and what you are capable of. That is when you give those guarantees. So we gave 17 guarantees and I have no doubt in my mind if we were to host the Olympics or another WC we’d give less guarantees because our infrastructure will be in place— [Fifa has] perfected a method of bargaining really hard, and [they] angle for advantages for TV rights, transport, sponsorships.
How do you think the World Cup will change South African football: its administration, the manner it is played et cetera?
The critical point really is development. Safa as the Fifa affiliate and the mother body of football in this country will receive some money, for the first time, I think, that would enable them to really pay attention to development of football technically. Right at school level, amateur level and that would improve the standard of football all around— The fact that only yesterday in the North West the English team were playing against the Platinum Stars there, many of those rural youngsters are going to be inspired. Because as I said, it’s an entry point into education. You can go into District Six and say don’t do drugs, don’t do this, don’t do that and so on. You can now say from a positive angle, if you look after your body you can be a like a Wayne Rooney. So it is a positive way of giving advice against debauchery and substance abuse – by using sport.
And what of Bafana’s chances in the tournament?
I think they will go through to the knock-out round. In this group with France, Mexico and Uruguay, I think we can rest assure that Bafana will be amongst the first two positions and go through. We have confidence that Bafana Bafana can go right through and the cup can remain here.