Of yobbos and white elephants: with the euphoria of winning the rights to hosting the 2010 soccer World Cup distinctly a thing of the past, many South Africans are now admitting to World Cup preparation fatigue and asking themselves if it is really worth all the hassle. Tom Nevin reports.

Law-abiding football fans and residents of areas surrounding 2010 stadiums are already psyching themselves up for the arrival of hordes of Europe's legendary soccer yobbos.

Homeowners, already barricaded in their houses against South Africa's ubiquitous criminal gangs, are wondering what further they must do to protect themselves and their property against the looming tide of soccer hooligans, whose reputation for evil and disregard for 'decent folks' amplifies as 2010 ticks ever closer.

South Africa's tourism chief, Moeketsi Mosola, has asked locals to treat football visitors 'like gold', but residents are not at all sure of what's in store for them. The same goes for the formal tourism industry and operators freely admit they have no idea of what to expect.

"We do know that soccer tourists who come to South Africa will be very different to those who went to Germany," says Martin West, chief operating officer of Tourvest. They also will be nothing like the average tourists who visit South Africa to see the sights. "We'll be flexible with the products we have," says West. The hope is that existing tour packages can be adapted to soccer fans' needs, whatever they might be.

The local tourism industry is at odds over the extent football visitors will be interested in local culture. Will they behave as they do when they follow their teams at 'away' fixtures in Europe? Is South Africa simply another similar event, only further away? Will they mix the local cultural experience with the Cup matches, or simply partake in non-stop revelry of football and beer, from stadium to stadium and from pub to pub? No one really knows if football tourists would be happy to substitute a plate of stewed mopani worms, an African delicacy, for their hamburgers or fish and chips.

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It seems that little research has gone into the cultural pursuits and eating habits of Europe's football fans, where most will come from. "I have absolutely no idea about their preferences, except the fish and chips thing," confesses Al-son January, a cafe and eatery owner at Moullie Point near Cape Town's new soccer stadium. "I think I'll take the easy route and change my cafe signs to January's Fish and Chips."

A herd of white elephants in the making

Although South Africa's football World Cup is more of a public-private enterprise than any of its predecessors, the taxpayer is still forking out R8.4bn at last count--which is currently the equivalent of $1.21bn--mainly to pay for new stadiums and the refurbishing of some existing ones.

This is causing a public grumble as locals voice the opinion that such vast sums would be better spent on housing South Africa's unsheltered millions and enhance the far from satisfactory health and education sectors.

"What will we do with these massive stadiums after 2010?" is the oft heard complaint. More recently the National Treasury joined the chorus of disquiet. According to Dr Udesh Pillay, head of the Human Sciences Research Council's 2010 Fifa World Cup Research Project, the Treasury "quite unequivocally questioned whether that R8.4bn it was investing in stadiums would ever generate a return, and not end up being a costly noose around the neck of the ratepayers".

It is a point of view that has permeated deeper than mere pub talk, prompting Malcolm Simpson, the Treasury deputy director-general in charge of 2010 preparations, to concede that, in hindsight, South Africa should have considered the future viability of the stadiums before bidding for the Cup. Simpson noted in a report to Parliament that host cities in other parts of the world had experienced similar problems where magnificent facilities were left standing unused after the spectators of soccer events had left, and the euphoria had subsided.

Capetonians say their new 2010 stadium in Green Point promises to be more of a white elephant than anyone else's. Dave Marrs, a local newspaper editor, points out that the stadium is isolated from the city's population mainstream and calls for train and taxi rides to get there, at some considerable expense. This brings into question the extent to which the stadium can be filled for domestic league games. His suggestion that rugby and cricket be moved from the historic Newlands ground to make more use of the new stadium evoked howls of protest. The proposition that the hallowed pitch in the benign lee of Table Mountain be sold for residential and commercial development is, for many, too awful

to contemplate.

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2010 is a criminal magnet

Fears are also being expressed that the prospect of 450,000 well-heeled football fans concentrated in half-a-dozen urban areas will attract more criminals to South Africa and add enormously to an already out-of-control violent crime problem. In what seem to be curtain-raisers to the main 2010 event, a rash of hits on tourists and VIP visitors is unnerving angst-ridden South Africans.

Tour operator Midas Thibela says paranoia is gripping the industry. "We always find these guys waiting for us," he reports. "How the hell do they know we're coming?"

Other new targets include VIPs and diplomatic staff. During one week in July, armed robbers held up the Ethiopian, Ghanaian and Gabonese embassies in Pretoria's diplomatic district. First to be hit was the Ghanaian high commission when a gang entered, tied up the security staff and robbed the premises.

A few days later, the Gabonese ambassador, Marcel-Jules Odongui-Bonnard, was assaulted and robbed by armed men who had followed him to the Pretoria embassy; four days later eight armed bandits forced their way into the nearby Ethiopian embassy. Another recent victim was South Africa's ambassador to the UN, Dumisani Kumalo, ambushed and robbed outside his son's Johannesburg home.

Meanwhile, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Johannesburg has warned that a multiplicity of tourist sites and the 2010 soccer World Cup make the region vulnerable to high-profile terrorist attacks. A paper written for discussion at the UN's global counter-terrorism strategy noted that "the possibility for international terrorism is always there and we need to start adopting a proactive approach".

Troublesome train

The rapid rail Gautrain linking Pretoria with Johannesburg's Oliver Tambo international airport would have happened with or without the soccer World Cup such is the chaos of the province's current commuter transport regime.

Many businesses on the train's route, however, blame the Cup for the builders' unseemly haste to get the track laid before 2010 so the train can help move the anticipated 450,000 foreign fans shuttling around between match venues.

In the process, businesses like restaurants, fast-food outlets and taxis are losing so much custom that the owners say they will not be around to cash in on the anticipated flood of customers when the route is completed in about mid 2010.

Says Ben Moodley, co-owner of a shellfish speciality restaurant adjacent to a station under construction in Johannesburg's Rosebank suburb: "It's all good and well to say that once they're done we will all be millionaires. But it is pointless if you have lost your business."

The once busy taxi rank at Rosebank has fallen victim to the excavators and has given way to the site of the new station. Taxis have been moved to a public parking lot. Driver Dolph Moseketsi says his income has dropped to around R120 ($17) a day from about R850 ($120) "because no-one can find us". Adds fellow cabbie Kaizer Mnizi: "Sometimes our customers spend up to 30 minutes looking for us and then phone other taxis. We only hear rumours that we will be given another rank area. There is no communication."

Bombela, the consortium building the Gautrain project, says adequate interaction has taken place between the project management and affected businesses. "Bombela has held numerous public meetings, focus group meetings, and one-on-one meetings with businesses and other interested parties in the Rosebank area since the latter part of 2000," reports spokesperson Barbara Jenkins.

"Do we have challenges? Yes! But there is no contradiction between being African and world class," the head of the organising committee Danny Jordaan never tires of saying.

President Thabo Mbeki dismisses detractors as 'dismal Jimmies' and says South Africa has everything it takes to present the best Cup ever. And Fifa boss Sepp Blatter has been lavish in his praise on his many recent visits to the country. "Only God can stop South Africa hosting the World Cup," he says.