The best thing about the World Cup...

par: Mark Turpin

Cette page n'est pas disponible en français - Vue en Anglais:

In South Africa we have new stadiums, the Gautrain, Rea Vaya buses, upgraded ‘world class’ airports, improved highways, refurbished hotels and a R90bn boost to our economy, but I would swap it all for the spirit that swept through the country spontaneously on the Wednesday before kick-off at 12noon.

At that moment the country came together again on the streets of our cities, when people came on to the streets in a colourful, noisy and joyous and shared display of exuberance at the start of the World Cup. The noise from the vuvuzelas was deafening, and continued on and off for the rest of the afternoon.

If we could bottle what happened that day, and bring that sense of togetherness and happiness into everything we do, we could solve every problem and deal with every challenge we face as a people. And forget about building ‘world class’ cities, and just focus on creating nice places to live.