Editorial

It is now a few days to go before the official kick-off of the first ever  FIFA  Football Senior World Cup to be staged on  African soil. We are glad that the Ministry of Sports in The Gambia launched the national countdown to this significant event. What is even more significant is that the president personally launched the countdown in Kanilai, where people from different parts of the globe are currently converged for a cultural jamboree. This move shows that the state is aware that the 2010 World Cup is for the entire continent and every African nation should contribute her quota to ensuring its success.

As this is the greatest international sporting event ever to be held in Africa, there is widespread excitement across the continent. Hosting the event is a big boost for a continent that has for various reasons been excluded from hosting events of such magnitude in the past. While Africans are hopeful that one of our teams will win the cup, however, we have to bear in mind that it is not only what happens on the field that matters. The World Cup offers an opportunity for Africa to show what it is capable of doing, and dispel negative stereotypes about the continent.

We are already aware that South Africa has invested heavily to ensure a successful tournament. And success is what we wish for South Africa. Africans know that the eyes of the entire world will be on the continent. It is time the world gets to know that Africa is not just about wars, famines, poverty and diseases as the Western media portray the continent. It is therefore imperative that Africans seize the opportunity afforded by the hosting of the World Cup to demonstrate to the world the positive developments that have taken place in the continent, including marked improvement in governance, peace, economic growth and an improved investment climate.

Much more, as Africans, we have to be cognisant of the fact that a few decades ago, South Africa was governed by a regime whose apartheid policies grossly violated the human rights of the majority blacks. Nelson Mandela was in a prison not far from Cape Town, one of the World Cup venues. And South Africa was rightfully denied the opportunity to compete in international sporting events, let alone host them. Civil society in developed nations pressured governments and the private sector to withdraw investments from South Africa and firms that were slow at dis-investing faced costly consumer boycotts.

After years of struggle within, and pressure from without, change finally came in quick succession culminating in the end of the apartheid regime. Today, South Africa is the host of the world's most popular sporting event, a manifestation of the symbol of the transformation of Africa and a lasting example of the type of change that can take place in Africa when the world engages the continent positively. We pray for a successful tournament in South Africa.