Green Point – One Big Teller
I remember that day as if it were yesterday; it was the Thursday before Good Friday last year. There are two things that I can’t forget about that Thursday. One of the two I’d rather forget because I still can’t believe how my flat could have been broken into – I lived right in front of the police infested Cape High Court for Pete’s sake. All the same though, I’m still in Cape Town and I’m loving it like that cheesy McDonald’s jingle.
The better part of that Thursday isn’t that much of a spectacle either, but at least it’s something better to remember about that Thursday afternoon and it also left me with something to think about. What happened was I was due to take a bus to the Eastern Cape on the morning of the Good Friday. Since I knew how boring, long and depressing the bus trip would be, I went over to my friend’s place to get music for my iPod so that I’d have some form of entertainment in the bus. My friend lives in Moullie Point, less than a kilometer from the infamous Green Point stadium which was just about to be demolished on that very day. As the cab driver drove past Green Point Stadium, he was overwhelmed with emotion. I’d soon find out that the very stadium that was about to be demolished was very dear to him. The old man told me that for as long as he has been alive (+/-60 years) Green Point Stadium was the place where the coloured community congregated for coones, weekend in weekend out. The site of all those bulldozers was too much for him to bear. I really felt his pain – poor guy.
All of a sudden, all I found myself thinking about was that stadium. Not to sound like a heartless bastard or anything; by no means was I thinking about how to save the Old Green Point Stadium – I was thinking about the new Green Point Stadium and what it symbolized – the 2010 World Cup [No Cape Town tour is complete without viewing it]. I was wondering what I’m going to get out of the new stadium and 2010 as a whole. Would I get a share of the ‘green’, or would I be one of those guys who just lurk around outside the stadium or try to peep over the top because they can’t afford a ticket? I started pondering ways in which I’d make the 2010 World Cup work for me financially.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a hungry lion who just sees the 2010 World Cup as a get rich quick scheme; I’m not that unpatriotic like that. Truth be told though, the 2010 World Cup is more business than pleasure to most South Africans. The way I see things, a lot of people want to retire in 2011, and for that to happen, they must milk this cow until it’s dry. When it dries out, they’ll make biltong out of it. And just as you start feeling sorry for the cow, someone will take its hide and make a dozen pair of leather shoes; while some innovator picks up the bones and makes bone vuvuzelas – selling the smaller bones to a sangoma who in turn will predict the scores outside the stadium – for a small non-refundable fee off course.
Are you going to bother the rest of us outside Green Point Stadium in 2010, or will you go out and find a nice fat cow as you please with it? You have exactly two years to accomplish the first of the two options. But if you’re aiming for the latter, you better go out and find that cow today.
-Mokhalaka Kakud-
