Is SA ready for its goal?

Keith Wallace BBC reporter and researcher writes on his recent visit to South Africa ahead of next years FIFA World CupThey say South Africa has a crime problem and I have to admit when we discovered our car was missing I was inclined to agree Our mood was surprisingly calm though clearly we were annoyed that the man we paid to watch our vehicle had done a pretty shabby job Still we picked our way through Pretorias back streets with a great deal more cheer than we deserved to feel Football fans go berserk at the match between Santos and Kaiser Cheifs at Pretoria pic 1Football fans go berserk at the match between Santos and Kaiser Cheifs at Pretoria pic 2The hours before had been a delight We drove to the capital to watch a football match Santos against Kaiser Chiefs in the PSL The chiefs lost 31 and the match was far from the graceful spectacle common across Europe A bad match was cheered from beginning to end by rampantly cheerful fans wearing a variety of elaborate hats and giant novelty spectacles They were among the friendliest most happygolucky supporters I have come across and the noise they made was deafening and beautiful The drummers going about their work on the tin walls of the decaying stadium accompanied the dozens of vuvuzela trumpeters and were serenaded by the chorus of properly harmonised Kaiser Chiefs sopranos The spectators werent many in number perhaps five thousand in a venue that would hold ten times as many but the Loftus Stadium was pulsating Football fans go berserk at the match between Santos and Kaiser Cheifs at Pretoria pic 3If that is any indication of the excitement we can expect from Bafana Bafana supporters ahead of the 2010 World Cup a very special tournament lies ahead What the country lacks in footballing talent and be under no illusion it IS lacking it more than makes up for in enthusiasm That enthusiasm doesnt stop with the fans though It is built into the foundations of the new and refurbished stadiums now appearing across the country Take Cape Towns Green Point Stadium With so much steel and glass at their fingertips the architects have been blending as never before In a city sprinkled between craggy old Table Mountain and the shimmering South Atlantic it would not take much to disturb the serenity Green Point disturbs nothing The gently undulating roof and unobtrusive colours make the venue submit to rather than compete with the skyline The lighting inside will be invisible to anyone not standing on the mountaintops Inside those same mountaintops are visible to some spectators presumably those willing to pay extra for the view Johannesburgs showpiece Soccer City also uses the environment as a starting point for its design The areas Martian landscape gives way to the reds and browns of the exterior cladding still only half completed as I picked my way through the puddles and tidy stacks of concrete Where the skeleton was bared you could see through to the garish orange seating and as the site manager bounced towards me in his golf buggy I began to think that Soccer City must have looked prettier on paper than she did in the flesh Mike Moody convinced me though Its designed to look like an African cooking pot he growled and once its lit up beams of light from inside will be thrown outwards through the windows It will be magic at night And as he went on to tell me about how nervous he will be before the opening ceremony I looked around again and pictured fans streaming through the turnstiles music pouring from the state of the art PA system and the butterflies in Mikes considerable stomach The outer and inner skeleton of the Soccer City Stadium still under construction for the FIFA World Cup 2010 pic 1The outer and inner skeleton of the Soccer City Stadium still under construction for the FIFA World Cup 2010 pic 2Not badu00a0 Durbans Moses Makhala Stadium is designed to be seen as far and wide as possible whichever way you approach the east coast city We passed it in our taxi the silvers and grey of the cladding disappearing into the drizzle and even the giant arches straddling the pitch seemed to touch the low brooding clouds that greeted our arrival Overlooking the Indian Ocean it is certainly impressive and the cable car that will carry spectators 100 metres above the pitch will no doubt be worthwhile Our taxi let us out in Durbans schizophrenic city centre We found ourselves between several giant attractive conference venues and The Point where groups of homeless street children huddle on corners in dozens Crime is an issue in this city We had been told so when we were standing in the now comparatively affluent township of Soweto where even as tourists we felt safe However the gap between rich and poor is as wide in Durban as anywhere else in South Africa and living within that chasm are the street children To visiting tourists they look menacing hunting in packs high on glue and interested only in money That can only mean trouble ahead of 2010 when football fans with loaded wallets and expensive cameras descend on the city in their thousands To charity workers these children are orphans who need patience and help One angelic British man Tom who runs a dropin centre from an old warehouse told us he had concerns that they would be rounded up ahead of the tournament and dumped outside the city limits Hes working hard to stop that from happening and trying to win for the children for whom AIDS and violent crime are facts of life a proper childhood where they can play on the streets without prompting looks of revulsion from the populationu00a0 Back in the more affluent part of the city we had organised to stay at the home of a local family Its one of several accommodation options open to supporters next year This homestay usually costs about US200 for accommodation food and transfers It sounds like good value and on arrival we were given quite a welcome The small modern flat with whitewashed walls overlooked the sea which provided us a soundtrack for the evening Friends and family lined up to meet us and say hello and a banquet was laid out The problem came when we came to retire for the evening to find one double bed intended to accommodate both me and my colleague Simon We looked at the bed and looked at each other and after a long thoughtful pause Simon said So where are you going to sleep The outer and inner skeleton of the Soccer City Stadium still under construction for the FIFA World Cup 2010 pic 3Were you to travel with a wife or partner and feel like meeting local people homestays are an ideal way to go about it They dot the length and breadth of South Africa and offer flexibility with transfers and food Also there are specialist options available for those who worry about the proximity of Kosher Halal or even just vegetarian food A more exciting option though would be camping in the National Parks alongside all manner of wildlife This is the first African World Cup after all so why not take advantage of the continents phenomenal natural gifts Or if youre quick you could bed down in one of the abundant luxury hotels common in all the cities Back in Pretoria we managed to find our car It was where we left it right around the next corner Perhaps South Africa isnt quite as crimeinfested as the global media would have us all believe I thought to myself I was confident at that moment that the remarkable South African hospitality would leave a longer lasting impression than any isolated crime issues that arise in 2010 The following day light fingers rummaged through my bags and removed the shiniest objectsKeith Wallace is a reporter and researcher on BBC World News travel programme fasttrack