Archbishop Thabo Makgoba writes letter of congratulations and challenge to FIFA

Written by ANiSA Associate

On 22 June, the Most Revd Dr. Thabo Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, issued an Open Letter of Congratulations and Challenge to the FIFA World Cup LOC and Dr. Danny Jordaan, Dr. Irvin Khoza and SAFA, and Mr. Kaizer ‘Chincha Gulyuya’ Motaung. The letter was titled “Football- a Gift for Today and Tomorrow.”

In the letter the Archbishop wrote of his enjoyment found while watching the matches and the fact that the biggest and greatest sporting event (after the Olympics) is being held in South Africa. Yet, despite all of the excitement, the Archbishop reminded FIFA that even though South Africa is in the midst of a “mountain top” experience as the nation welcomes the world to the country, South Africa needs to start planning for when we return down from the mountain to the “plains” of everyday life.

The “plains” Dr. Makgoba wrote refer to the challenges the nation faces such as education, service delivery, health care, violence, the upcoming municipal elections, and rumors of a new outbreak of xenophobia violence after the tournament ends.

Dr. Makgoba questions the football champions and leaders and asks “where will the youngsters’ who accompanied the great players into our stadia learn to play their much-loved sport? Where can the money for football development academies be found?” Makoba is optimistic that the funds can be found for such programmes.

The Archbishop suggested that the funds for youth football and academic develop could be seen as a tithe for the carbon emissions caused by all our preparations for the World Cup. In this way, FIFA and the soccer fraternity could begin a soccer development institute especially for under-resourced townships and rural villages.

“Such an undertaking will best honour those smiles on the little ones who walked with today’s great players,” said Dr. Makgoba. “It will be a sustainable and lasting memory for the 2010 World Cup over and above the spending the country has expended on this sporting event.”