Cape Town — South African soccer is in disgrace - and now the country's president, Thabo Mbeki, has compounded the indignities heaped upon the heads of players and administrators in recent days.
Ten years ago the national soccer squad, Bafana Bafana ("The Boys, The Boys"), were heroes, winners of the Africa Cup of Nations - albeit in the absence of Nigeria from the tournament in the wake of Sani Abacha's execution of writer Ken Saro-Wiwa.
This week, the team returned home from Egypt to boos at Johannesburg International Airport. They hadn't won a single game. They hadn't drawn a single game. They hadn't even scored a goal. This from the country that is hosting the Soccer World Cup in 2010.
Today, Mbeki judged the situation worthy of note in his annual State of the Nation speech at the opening of Parliament in Cape Town.
The State of the Nation is a big affair. Everyone who's anyone flies to Cape Town to jockey for a seat in the main Assembly chamber. If you're not quite anyone you might get a place with the ghost of H. F. Verwoerd, the high priest of apartheid, in the Old Assembly chamber down the corridor. (Verwoerd was assassinated in the chamber in 1966.)
Outside, streets are blocked off to allow the Cape Town Highlanders in their Scottish headdress - mostly black soldiers nowadays - and other military units to parade through the city. Special squads of civil society representatives provide the president's guard of honour. Journalists filling in time on live broadcasts ahead of the speech chatter about the men's and women's fashions, or about how someone tripped on the edge of the red carpet.
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It was towards the end of his speech today that Mbeki metaphorically turned his spotlight on the hapless soccer team. "I am afraid," he said, "that our performance in the current Africa Cup of Nations did nothing to advertise our strengths as a winning nation."
He reminded the country that five months from now, this year's World Cup will come to an end in Germany. (Needless to say, Bafana will not be there; South Africa did not qualify.) From then on, he warned, "the whole world will watch us carefully to judge whether we will be a worthy host of this prestigious tournament."
Mbeki set the country two tasks. One was to restore soccer "to full health." Although as the host nation South Africa will automatically have a place in the 2010 tournament, the president clearly did not want a repeat of Egypt. He called on soccer to prepare "a winning national team."
The second task was important not only for South Africa. As an African World Cup, 2010 would give additional impetus to the struggle to achieve Africa's renaissance.
"Starting today," he said, "the nation must bend every effort to ensure that we meet all the expectations of FIFA and the world of soccer, so that we host the best Soccer World Cup ever."
