Our time will come, but SA can’t afford to be hosts in 2023
I AM writing to let you know my thoughts about losing the Rugby World Cup 2023.
I know millions of people are upset but, as I was a rugby player as well as a cricketer in my youth, it was also a disappointment to me when I heard the announcement. To be honest with you, it is probably the best thing that could have happened to us due to the fact that, as a country that is R50 billion in the red, where are we going to find the money for us to host the World Cup?
I know we have hosted many great sporting events, but at whose expense? Our children’s expense. We hosted the soccer World Cup, and very successfully, but we should never have hosted the event due to the fact that we spent billions of rand on infrastructure (with a lot of corruption), and gave many people jobs for about 3-5 years, but where are those people today?
Back to point one: with no money or jobs (people) cannot educate their kids or put food on the table. It was great for six weeks, and the country was in a state of euphoria, but where are we today? We have one of the highest rates of unemployment in the world and there are still people without water, houses and toilets.
We should never have spent that amount on a sporting event when our own people are starving to death. You just have to listen to CNN and Fox television stations in America as well as read the South African newspapers, as well as the world newspapers like the Wall Street Journal, to learn the truth.
Yes, I know you say that most of the infrastructure is in place and it will bring in millions through tourism, but that is totally incorrect as you read in the papers that tourism is increasing on a year-on-year basis.
That increase comes from inside the continent of Africa. People from all over the world are afraid of coming to South Africa with all the crime; as I said before, if you read and listen, you will learn.
Minister Rob Davies is fooling the people of South Africa with the figures that he is providing.
Just one example: tourists arriving at our international airports are robbed before they even get to their hotels. Do you not think the rest of the word hears about this, and does not know what is going on in South Africa? Once again, I am going to say look at the statistics and you will see we have the highest crime rate in the world.
Now, back to the soccer World Cup. In Cape Town, where the stadium was built, there was part of the old stadium that used to be Hellenic football club. They rebuilt it as an athletic stadium at a cost of R80 million and it has never been used. What was the point of that, and how many homes could have been built for the cost of this stadium? I know people are going to be upset with my comment, but I believe you need to take care of South Africans first before hosting these big events.
Before I end, I would like to emphasise that one of the reasons – and maybe the only reason – we have tourists is because of the weak currency against all foreign currencies.
Come on all South Africans, let’s stand together and look after the citizens of South Africa first by providing them with homes, toilets, education, water and jobs.
Our time will come when we can host all these events and there will be a surplus of money and we will not have to borrow money from the World Bank or where-ever we can borrow. Marc Weiss Sea Point