The Tale of a Beautiful Bride and a Horrible Hangover

I had not been to Johannesburg in a while, and when I drove there the other day, I wasn’t quite sure if I had not maybe missed a turning and ended up somewhere else...

The M1 now has five smooth, pothole free lanes; construction sites have disappeared and street lights are working. The city is decorated in an ocean of flags, trees have been cut back and there are flowers everywhere. Artwork has been erected at every street corner; potholes have been filled; rubbish removed; and ugly building sites disappeared and revealed colourful fan parks and flash new developments. The city is ready to host the first football World Cup on the African continent and welcome visitors from all over the world... and charm them away!




But during the tournament, visitors will get to enjoy a Johannesburg that the residents rarely see. A local newspaper recently published an article, which I couldn’t agree with more:

“WITH less than two days to go before the Soccer World Cup kickoff, last-minute preparations in Johannesburg feel a little like those the day before a wedding.

The bride may be somewhat weepy because the cake has still not arrived, but come the morning of the big day, she will look lovely, her father will not embarrass her for the first time in her young life, and the groom will give a magnificent speech. It will be perfect.

So it is with Johannesburg. All around the city, the rubbish- strewn, potholed streets are being dressed up for the big event. All along the motorway, trees are being planted, gardens cleaned and the roadside swept. Construction hoarding and dust have made way for gardens and fountains and everywhere flags are being hung to welcome visitors to the country.

By the time the tournament kicks off, Johannesburg will have been transformed into a world-class city and the time of the tournament will be bliss: There will be no crime, no mess and everything will work as it should - It will be a time when Pikitup (local rubbish collector) will not leave more rubbish on my pavement than was in my bin in the first place.

But sadly it won’t last. By August that utopian image of Johannesburg will be a hazy memory. Just like with a wedding, we will all have had a great time but our heads will hurt because we drank too much — and we will still have a huge mess to clean up. The perfection will have been lost.

Why is it that we can transform our surroundings only when the eyes of the world are upon us? Johannesburg has real potential, but there is a lot that is horribly wrong with our city - When an insurance company has to man your traffic lights, you know something has gone seriously awry.

Would it be so unreasonable to ask that if we are able to transform our city for the time of the World Cup, we should be given the same city all of the time?”