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.
A
team of four scientists has written an article in the latest edition of
the Journal of Cosmology claiming that a meteorite discovered in Sri
Lanka contains evidence of extraterrestrial life. Inside the meteorite,
according to Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, the lead scientist and
Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology, are tiny fossil
microbes that are extraterrestrial in origin. The findings of
Wickramasinghe and his team in their co-authored article, “Fossil Diatoms in a New Carbonaceous Meteorite’," immediately aroused controversy. In an article in the Huffington Post
published on January 19, Lee Spiegal addressed the controversy and
Wickramasinghe’s response to early criticism. Critics claim that the
meteorite sample examined by Wickramasinghe’s team was very likely
contaminated by Earth based algae. This raises suspicion that once again
scientists claiming they have found evidence for extraterrestrial life
will be subjected to a firestorm of criticism including direct personal
attacks from their peers. click for morehttp://news.exopoliticsinstitute.org/index.php/37290/
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