Complacency behind our failure in Ghana

By Madibeng Kgwete: posted on 03 February 2008

It is easy to blame the team of soccer players and administrators for the pathetic performance that Bafana Bafana displayed at the MTN Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana. A deeper analysis of possible reasons why our national soccer team fails may reveal interesting points.

Firstly, we (and “we” refers to South Africans in general, not just Bafana Bafana) lack a sense of patriotism. We don’t seem to care about national pride. Only a handful of us seem to have some pride in our country.

South Africa is the biggest economy on the African continent and, since 1994 up to this day, remains arguably the most politically stable African country. The overall performance of our economy makes South Africa almost incomparable to any country in Africa.

South Africa is the shining light in a continent plagued by political instabilities, hunger, diseases, etc. Even the gravest of our concerns, such as the high crime wave and the spread of the HIV and Aids pandemic, seem to be nothing as compared to the many other challenges facing fellow Africans outside our borders.

You’d expect a country that is so successful to provide leadership even in the field of sports. But how do our national sports teams, with the exception of rugby and cricket (which are predominantly white sports) fare as compared to other national teams from the rest of Africa? Pathetic!

Do we not have the talent? I think we have. Do we not have the facilities to develop such talent? Of course we do have. The only thing we do not have is a competitive attitude and pride in our country. Complacency is the root cause of our failure.