So I will doing an exclusively soccer post tomorrow but I am first going to write about the last couple of days of interviews and my new lodging.
On Monday I went to visit the official FIFA Fan Park at Innes Free Park in Sandton. What I discovered there was quite surprising and disheartening. The Fan Parks in Germany were a huge success and drew many tens even hundreds of thousands of people. According to the vendors, and verified by my own eyes, at the Innes Free Fan Park with the exception of the first Bafana game, maybe a few hundred people were going through the park every day. When I went into the fan park there were fewer than 100 visitors, quite possibly outnumbered by the various support staff and vendors.
I spoke to owners of two food stalls and two craft stalls of officially licensed informal traders. One food vendor “Mo Khan” sold Indian and Pakistani food and had entered into the business with his sister, who actually owned the stall. Mo is actually a driving instructor, but he was helping out at the stall. The other vendor made hallal food. “Ibrahim” owns a butchery/deli and so already had quite a bit of experience.
Both vendors related to me a story of inflated expectations and broken promises. Innes free park is an official FIFA fan park and run by FIFA and MATCH. The business plan presented to the vendors was clearly one of projections and hopes, rather than cold hard facts and realistic expectations. The food vendors each had to pay R15,000 just to rent the space for the entirety of the tournament at the fan park. This included nothing–no tent, no water, no electricity, no refrigeration, no gas. (Bringing all this in cost Ibrahim R32,000, Mo brought in some of this for R10,000). The vendors were promised advertisement/marketing and people through the park. Outside of the first match between Bafana and Mexico–when 20k-30k people came to the park–they have had neither. Ibrahim said he is currently losing R6000 a day because his inventory is sitting unused for the most part. R100,000 in stock most of which he wont be able to save or get rid of.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUCjIOJQbHo&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]
Part of the problem with the fan park that I experienced first hand is that there is no parking facilities close by to the park. The signs for parking lead you across the highway a good 5k’s away and in the middle of Alex. For those who do not know Alexandra is one of the roughest townships in Johannesburg. You park your car there with no security (none), say good-bye because it won’t be there when you get back. Twice I tried to park at the actual park and they would not let me, claiming only VIP’s and Disabilities could access the lot. Considering there were 20 cars parked where 5000 could park, I was left just a bit peeved.
What’s especially surprising is that at Melrose Arch, not an official FIFA fan park but an official Public Viewing Area, the place was absolutely packed for the Bafana game against Uruguay. Could barely move. I will return to see how it is for a non South African match, but considering that the Newton public viewing areas have been packed each night as well (second-hand knowledge, will confirm soon) FIFA has really soiled the bed in many ways.
On Tuesday I tagged along with Gumani for a meeting with a potential TEP client, the Sterkfontein Heritage Lodge in the Cradle of Humankind in the West Rand. I would classify the lodge as a small hotel (only 11 rooms) but the overall area as a medium-sized business of many small businesses linked together. For example there is a Bungee jumping concession on the property, a restaurant, and a leadership development/adventure tours concession. In addition, the owners Scoop and Dejong hope to expand their sporting offerings as they already have small sided rugby fields. Listening in on the meeting was interesting and the interview had a much more optimistic and positive bent. They had their criticisms of FIFA, especially the strangle hold over how the country can provide opportunities and how badly MATCH has messed up by returning many rooms to the various accommodation providers who signed up with them. Scoop told me that in the Johannesburg area there was an original estimate of 45,000 rooms/night shortage, when in fact that is probably the surplus number of rooms in the area.
However, both Scoop and Dejong really emphasized the longer term impacts that they feel the World Cup has provided to South Africa. They believe, given conversations with a few of their foreign guests, that South Africa is showcasing itself as a very good business and investment opportunity. People actually see that things can get done in the country, the infrastructure in telecommunications, roads, stadiums, etc… Scoop also mentioned something very interesting, he believes the world cup has proved invaluable for social integration. He pointed as two examples a recent “soccer festival” they held on the lodge property which brought out all types of people of every color creed and socio-economic class, and that during the super 14 rugby final, the Pretoria Bulls played the Cape Town based Stormers in Orlando West at Pirates stadium and the bulls fans (mostly white) were watching the game in Soweto. Dejong disagreed, he believed that the World Cup only highlighted the social integration that was already occurring.
Whatever the case it was an extremely informative interview and worth the drive all the way out there. I unfortunately could not find my camera in my bag so I do not have photos of the second interview but you can see all the photos from the fan park and at Hilton and Caroline’s here.
I have to say I had a lovely time staying with my first host family. They were so hospitable, generous, helpful and warm (even if the house was not) I had a great time. I was so surprised that my time with them had already come to an end. I am now staying with Nicci and Christopher, Luke, and Bongani at their house. I spent the first night borrowing Luke’s room and then moved into the guest room. Wow, their house is absolutely beautiful. If you’re interested in such things I think the design is French Countryside. I will post some photos of the house soon. Chris is an excellent chef and I’ve been eating quite stupendous dinners.
I will post a soccer related post later. Lots and lots of interesting experiences at that match. As a teaser I met one President and another passed right by my face…more details to come!!!