Imploding or Perpetuating African Myths through Reporting South Africa 2010 World Cup Stories on Business Opportunities

Abstract

The 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament was expected to bring economic development and financial opportunities to South Africa and the African continent. Infrastructural development, especially the building and improvement of stadiums, roads and hotels, was generally anticipated, but it was in the ability by African companies and entrepreneurs to win lucrative deals that the success of the soccer showcase would be measured locally. There were expectations on the African continent that the World Cup would help reduce dehumanizing discourses and stigma, dating back to colonial days, which emphasized the notion of Africa being a dark continent, a nest of diseases and poverty-stricken (Alegi, 2010; Pannenborg, 2010). This chapter traces media and scholarly reportage of business or economic success, or lack thereof, associated with the 2010 World Cup. The research largely draws from archival press reports of selected online newspapers from South Africa and the rest of the world that tried to represent the take-up of opportunities by African business people. We conveniently sampled press reports from the time South Africa won the bid to host the World Cup to 2013, when some stories continue to be produced on the success or failure of African entrepreneurship.