South Africa’s power utility Eskom has assured the world it will keep the lights on during the FIFA World Cup next year.

But many wonder if they can trust the assurances after the country’s national grid came to a near standstill last year, forcing mines and smelters to shut and costing the biggest economy in Africa billions of dollars.

Eskom’s new power investments are not supposed to kick in until well after the cup next year, and occasional power cuts still make the headlines in the country’s media as the system continues to be tight, despite some temporary relief given the economic slowdown.

According to FIFA regulations, all stadiums will be powered using generators, but the utility still plans to secure a buffer of 2,000 MW - enough to power a city - for the duration of the event.

Twelve utilities from neighbouring countries have committed to support Eskom during the month-long event, either by providing back-up power or by reducing their own consumption and easing congestion on the regional transmission lines.

All to ensure that the world’s biggest soccer bonanza, held in Africa for the first time, is blackout-free.

Some critics wonder if it will be enough to power the host cities, once thousands of  fans flock  into South Africa ’s towns and tourist hubs come June next year.

Eskom officials say they have learnt from past mistakes and ask everyone not to get stuck on images of soccer players running around with flashlights in their hands.

You might not  have to put one in your luggage, but some may still feel the need to be prepared

The debate around the vuvuzela was always going to generate big noise but for some South African commentators it has become almost a neo-colonial conflict.

The noisy trumpet, which dominates the sound waves around the stadiums during the Confederations Cup, has got a lot of people covering their ears.

Complaints from TV viewers across Europe have been vociferous enough for the future of the plastic pest to become the major item on the agenda at the series of press conferences FIFA president Sepp Blatter has held during the tournament in South Africa.

Blatter has said it will stay — he wants to celebrate local custom and is inviting the rest of the world to do so too.

FIFA’s television arm, HBS, are more cautious but say privately, at the end of the day what Blatter says goes.

The European TV stations, who pay a lot of the money that funds FIFA, Blatter and the World Cup, could have the vuvuzela banned if they bleated enough. But most of the noise, so far, has come from enraged South Africa columnists, who have rounded on the poor Dutch journalist who first sought Blatter’s response to complaints from European television viewers.

In Africa, there is a sensitivity to being told what to do from outside and a pride in seeking to create a unique World Cup in 2010. Some of the stuff written though has been a little churlish. See here, here and here for a flavour.

At the end the day, it is the big TV money that talks. If the world’s broadcasters feel the cacophony of vuvuzelas detracts from the viewing pleasure of their public, FIFA will be forced to back down and ban the trumpets from the 2010 World Cup stadiums.

It won’t have anything to do with any ‘ism, just cold hard cash.

For all their scepticism about South Africa’s potential to host the World Cup, the build-up to the test event, the Confederations Cup, has so far gone without any major hitches.

It is a dream scenario for the home nation and FIFA, still trying to temper the doubters and persuade the world all will be ready by 2010, has added to the chorus of congratulations.

Sepp Blatter devoted a good deal of his traditional pre-tournament news conference on Friday to pouring scorn on the doubters.

Admittedly, there is much last minute activity and privately officials have spoken of the frustration of a society where urgency is not always a priority.

But in a country desperate to prove it can put on an event of the magnitude of the World Cup, South Africa is ahead in the PR race.

The only setback, ironically, has been the weather. It might be winter but on the Highveld, where the four venues for the Confederation Cup are situated, the cold season is normally mildly pleasant.

The air is brisk and after hours it gets cold but the days are usually filled with sunshine. Except for this week. Teams arrived to frigid conditions and unseasonal rain and spent the first days bemused by the weather.

The Italians, in particular, made much of the wet. Their friendly win against New Zealand in Pretoria on Wednesday was played in a constant downpour and the non-playing staff and spectators were bundled up as if on an Artic expedition.

The television pictures beamed back to Italy would certainly have put off a few potential tourists, who had planned to come out for the 2010 tournament.

But on the eve of kick off of the first game, South Africa v Iraq on Sunday, the sunshine has come out. Now the pressure is back on the organisers.

PHOTO: South Africa's President Jacob Zuma reacts after being given a soccer jersey by the national soccer team before their training session at Orlando stadium in Soweto June 13, 2009. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

The first phase of ticket sales for the 2010 World Cup closed on Tuesday night with 1.6 million applications received.

This is more than two applications per available ticket although there is likely to be much more demand for the matches during the exciting knockout phase of the tournament than for the opening two weeks of group play.

Of those 1.6 million, about 70 percent are overseas applicants, meaning 500,000 applications were received from residents of host nation South Africa and elsewhere on the African continent.

This contrasts starkly with six million applications received at the same stage of the sale phase ahead of the 2006 finals in Germany.

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Two new proposed sets of new footballing legislation would make it even more difficult for Africa’s top soccer talent to achieve their dream of playing in Europe.

The proposed 6+5 regulation that FIFA president Sepp Blatter has been vigorously touting will mean less chance for African players to find lucrative employment with clubs in Europe, where the vastly better pay makes it a destination of choice for so many footballers from this continent.
Blatter wants to ensure more local players feature in domestic football, which over the years in Europe has become blurred by liberal EU labour laws and the mass migration of footballing talent in all directions.
It is 10 years ago, for example, since a club in the English Premier League last fielded an all-English side and, although as a product the premier league has become a world brand because of its world starts, there is a move now to restrict the number of foreigners playing in England and elsewhere.

UEFA president Michel Platini has received backing for his plan to scrap international transfer for players aged under 18, which will mean African talent will have to wait until past their 18th
birthday before being able to head off to Europe.

While Platini’s plan is designed to prevent young players from around Europe being exploited by unscrupulous agents, it will also stymie the path of the continent’s best young talent.

Clubs seek to take African players of potential across to Europe at an early age, the theory being that a lack of coaching means many need to be instilled with good basics before their formative years are over and bad habits form.

That is why top European clubs scout the African under-17 championship, which starts in Algeria later this month, much more vigorously than they do the under-20 championship, where players are in their late teens but deemed already ‘too old’ to transfer.

It is the economic reality of Africa that players dream of a move to Europe where the money they stand to earn proves life changing, not only for the footballer but for a multitude of dependents too.

It is an indictment of the Africa continent, of course, that its most talented have to migrate elsewhere for proper remuneration but there is no getting away from the irony that Platini’s attempt to protect youngsters also serves to vastly diminish their chances of a better life.

There were the predictable platitudes from Sepp Blatter in South Africa this week, expressing satisfaction with the pace of construction of the country’s top stadia ahead of its hosting if the 2010 World Cup finals.

But there was little Swiss diplomacy on display from the FIFA president when dealing with the issue of the country’s national team, Bafana Bafana, whose rapid decline over the last years is now a major source of concern.

For FIFA, the World Cup has become a massive revenue-generating property. Over 80 percent of their considerable income is from sponsors of the tournament. The event has become the world’ biggest party or, as Blatter insisted on his four-day trip to Johannesburg and Cape Town, “the only event that transcends people and politics”. 

Luckily, recent World Cup hosts have produced competitive teams, even when the event went to Asia for the first time in 2002. Then South Korea got to the semifinals and, in the process, created one of the largest street parties ever seen.

Germany in 2006 turned into a massive fiesta because of the momentum that came with the march of their team to the semifinals, a euphoria whipped up steadily over a month that culminated with some incredible scenes in Berlin. Germany’s position in the heart of Europe also allowed easy access for fans of England, France and Italy, who also contributed considerably to the party atmosphere.

To keep drawing in the sponsors, FIFA needs to recreate much of the atmosphere every four years but a lot is dependent on the local conditions.
With South Africa they haven taken a major risk. While Blatter’s dreams of a philanthropic legacy (and possible Nobel Peace Prize) are given great credence by his entrusting a first ever World Cup to Africa, this will be a much different tournament for two, possibly three, reasons: The weather, the distance and, maybe, the home team.

First, it will be a winter World Cup in South Africa, the first since Argentina 1978, with less opportunity for gay inner city abandon that marked the glorious summer days of Germany in 2006. While those in the northern hemisphere would regard a South African winter as mild, it is nevertheless not tepid enough to be conducive for mass outdoor celebrations.

Germany’s proximity to many of the qualified countries also meant an estimated total of almost 2-million visitors came across its borders to be part of the footballing fiesta, the vast majority without tickets but still able to party in city squares and at fan parks and be part of the ‘World Cup experience’.
As a long haul destination, South Africa estimates it will receive just 300 000 visitors. The cost of travel to the country is expensive (although once inside remarkably cheap by international standards). 

And, as Blatter noted, there are not enough hotel beds. FIFA says it needs some 50,000; local tallies are put at more than 35,000, a significant shortfall.
Plus as people tighten their purse strings in a time of economic turmoil, a more well heeled audience is expected rather than the raucous fans that are responsible for much of the World Cup merriment.

But both the weather and lack of visitors can be overcome if World Cup fever sweeps up the local population. For that you need a competitive home team.
But, as Blatter pointed out, South Africa’s side has been “disappointing”. Embarrassing, indeed, with their failure to get past the first phase of qualification for the 2010 African Nations Cup finals.
Blatter talked about the poor state of the side on all the days he was in the country, highlighting FIFA’s nervousness that their World Cup is in imminent danger of turning into the biggest flop since Guy Ritchie’s last film.
  “It is high noon for Bafana Bafana,” he dramatically claimed at one of his press conferences. “You have to move and move now,” he told local officials at another function.
Bafana Bafana have never been under this kind of pressure before and while they have well paid Brazilian coaches and a growing list of foreign-based players to pick from, they seem to be unable to show any signs of life.
Perhaps it is a temporary setback in much the same way Jurgen Klinsmann was vilified in Germany as pre-World Cup results for his side rarely satisfied the pundits.
But whatever the case, it was all too evident from Blatter this week that FIFA is deeply concerned. Unlike bricks and mortar, hotel beds or buses, it is not a problem with a ready solution.