Some of the most iconic pictures from this past weekend’s Nedbank Cup final are not what happened on the field of play or even the grandstands at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
They are of multitudes of supporters across the country taking to the streets and celebrating, after the game, as if the Springboks or the Bafana Bafana of the 1990s had won an important match.
Of course, there were many sad faces too, such is the nature of cup finals – especially when they are between the nation’s most loved football teams, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.
For me, however, what was most impressive was the manner in which authorities – from PSL bosses, the provincial government, eThekwini metro and the police – turned what was threatening to be a deadly disaster into a great advert for South African soccer, in particular, and the hospitality industry in general.
We went to the game fearing the worst – with huge numbers of soccer-mad fans angry that the new ticketing system, adopted in a bid to get rid of fake tickets, resulted in them unable to watch the game live at the stadium.
Through platforms such as this newspaper, some of them were threatening to go to the game nevertheless, sparking fears of a deadly stampede.
Durbanites who had been fed social media disinformation about tickets not being issued to locals in favour of “outsiders” from other provinces, allegedly as a way of boosting the local hotel industry, were threatening to blockade major routes to the city and cause general mayhem.
With the July 2021 riots still fresh on their minds, officials took these threats seriously and sprang into action. Not only were more police and security personnel deployed, but soccer bosses and government officials were pro-active – coming up with several initiatives to calm emotions and also address the concerns of those who had been failed by the ticketing system.
One of these solutions was to have public viewing places, or fan parks, for those soccer lovers who had travelled all the way to the banana city for the stadium environment only to find that they had not been allocated tickets.
The fan parks worked like a charm, turning the derby into a nationwide festival not seen before in local club football. The negative energies of those who would have spent the day demanding to be let into Moses Mabhida without tickets was redirected into the positive vibes that electrified the fan parks.
One of the images that have since gone viral associated with the fan parks was taken at Albert Park, situated not far from the city’s port. It is of city mayor Cyril Xaba on a camp chair, sitting among hundreds of other soccer fans who had come there to witness Kaizer Chiefs attempt to end a 10-year trophy drought.
As mayor, Xaba could have been at the stadium where he was guaranteed to rub shoulders with the who’s-who of the soccer, business and political elite. He would have also been expected to join premier Thami Ntuli and sports minister Gayton McKenzie in handing over medals and the trophy to the winning team.
But Xaba opted to miss all that pomp and ceremony and be with the multitudes who had been disappointed by failing to get tickets.
In a country where politicians have turned out to be such disappointments, it is never wise to praise any of them because there is always that risk that a scandal may one day emerge about them that would leave you looking stupid.
However, it is also in this country where we are always encouraged “to give people their flowers while they can still smell them”. In that context, it should be permissible to acknowledge Xaba’s little gesture as something positive and that should be encouraged among public office bearers.
In fact, since his redeployment from the National Assembly to eThekwini more than a year ago, Xaba has brought new energy in the once-troubled metro. Streets are being cleaned, the beachfront looks appealing again and the city is slowly regaining its shine.
Of course, he is not alone in doing all of this. His redeployment was accompanied by the appointment of a presidential task team whose job is to help turn the city around. He has also been able to carry out the agenda because of the support he gets from council members from across the political spectrum who are also keen on seeing the country’s third-biggest commercial city reach its full potential.
All of this, of course may be too late for Xaba’s party, the ANC. If last year’s general elections’ results are anything to go by, eThekwini is destined to fall into the hands of uMkhonto weSizwe Party in next year’s local government election. With a comfortable majority in that future council, MKP will appoint its own mayor – likely to be one of a couple of senior former city officials who have now left the ANC for the new party.
Short-lived as Xaba’s tenure would have been, hopefully it would taught us all the value of appointing the right kind of leaders for such key positions as mayors.
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