Only positive thoughts for hopeless Bafana

The volunteer in the mixed zone of the National Stadium (formerly known as Soccer City and FNB, occasionally called the Calabash) was sure who was to blame for the woeful display by Bafana Bafana against Cape Verde in the opening match of the Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday night. “You can’t blame Gordon Igesund for this. Look at the players he has to work with. There’s no talent there.”

The security guard at the entrance to the parking at The Star’s building in Sauer Street was sure on whom to place the blame: “It’s Igesund. They must get rid of him. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

In the mixed zone, opinion rocked and rolled through the regular South African football journalists. “He picked Bongani (Khumalo) just because he speaks well,” said one. “I could play better than that, and I’m old,” reckoned another. “Hey, stop pushing us,” bitched a touchy radio sod that wasn’t being pushed during an interview in the crush of the mixed zone. Nerves were on edge, pride had been damaged and someone needed to be blamed for the amateur nonsense that the national team had just shown.

A few weeks ago, at an informal lunch with journalists, Igesund said his players reacted better when they read positive things about themselves. It has been a constant theme in the build-up to the Afcon. Be proud, soften the rough edges, back off the mistakes and the errors of Bafana and the organisational cock-ups of the tournament. So, here goes. Positive thoughts. Deep breath.

It was heartening to receive an email from the Government Communication and Information System media liaison to inform me of a “Media briefing by the South African Minister of Sport and Recreation and the 2013 Orange Afcon Chairman”. It was scheduled to take place at “12h00” at the Sandton Sun yesterday. The email arrived at 11.54am yesterday. It is impressive that Fikile Mbalula and Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana believe that the media can travel from offices in downtown Joburg, Rosebank, Auckland Park and Industria to Sandton in six minutes. Mind you, the sports minister is usually around an hour late for pressers, so perhaps the scheduled time was more of a guideline. That surely could not have been Mbalula in the 13-car motorcade roaring down Oxford past Rosebank yesterday at 1pm, could it?

A colleague said they received an SMS at around the same time to announce that the presser would be about the “incident-free” opening day of the Afcon. That’s good news for the man who tweeted Mandy Wiener of Radio 702 on Saturday night to say his friend had been “bladed” by two thugs trying to steal his phone and wallet in the toilet. I’ve seen the pictures on Twitter. Those pants can be repaired and that wound will heal in less than a month.

It was a wise and brave decision by whoever was in charge of the media logistics for the National Stadium to make sure that there were no tables or power points for the written press and photographers in the stands. Journalists have been spoilt for too long! The people don’t have power, so why should hacks! Instead, give them seats in the stands, make them write with their laptops on their knees, an anxious eye on how much power they have left and let them feel the rain splashing on their keyboards! That’s the way the fans that paid R50 have to watch the game. Oh, and the ban on umbrellas was a stroke of genius. Dangerous things.

I’ve been told someone called Sipho Sithole is the LOC chief communications officer. He apparently was the SABC’s head of strategy before. His Twitter bio says he’s an “award-winning music producer, prolific music composer, cultural preservationist, socio-political, & corporate player, scholar and academic”. He’s perfect for the job of making sure the media are informed and looked after. Or perhaps that's someone else’s job. He hasn’t been on Twitter since Friday, but that’s okay. He walked past us sitting in the rain on Saturday afternoon and gave us the thumbs up. I was so relieved to see that. Then I knew everything was okay.

The hour-long queue for match tickets we didn’t actually need was a great way to meet old friends again. And it was a pleasure to meet the jolly Caf official who told us that the LOC was supposed to give tickets for the mixed zone and press conference to South African journalists, and that he was doing us the biggest favour. It was a good thing they stopped giving out warm cooldrinks as the first match ended. If the public are going to pay R45 for a 500ml bottle of water, then everyone should.

I can’t wait for the rest of the tournament. Ignore all those who complain that the organising is not up to the standard of the World Cup. This isn’t the World Cup! This is Afcon! Just as long as it looks like you’re better than those other countries, then it’s fine with me. One last thing … a senior policeman at the National Stadium told me on Saturday night that the security and parking around the stadium was as confused as a “tumble drier”. He was big, so I didn’t say anything. Please inform him he is wrong.