Our day, our land, our country. We did it!

I was on Long Street last night in Cape Town, and the scenes that greeted me were utterly fantastic. Germans, Australians, Greeks, Chileans, English, Americans, Uruguayans, South Africans and Frenchman were all over the show doing their best to inject their own particular national brand of energy into the evening’s proceedings. Even outside the Grand Parade by City Hall, I saw a show of national colours that had me suffering the heebie-jeebies.

While the world has been building up to the 2010 World Cup for perhaps a year, for South Africans, we have been waiting sevens years, and that waiting is over. The time has come to show the world what South Africa is all about.

A person I live with said South Africans put on an act of friendliness because we are so scared of looking bad to the outside world. I’m sure there are many who think that negatively, but to all you doubters, naysayers and harbingers of doom: get stuffed.

Our national psyche is an incredibly complex one. South Africa today is a melting pot of colours, cultures, and creeds. We have one of the world’s highest crime rates, generations across the colour spectrum (divide is the world the naysayers would use), will forever be touched and affected by our history, yet battle to ensure those that follow don’t inherit our prejudices, and the future is uncertain.

So why do I feel so positive today, June 11 2010? Through all the doubt, through all the crime (I myself have been mugged in the last month at knifepoint), through all the bad press, through all the blood-curdling actions of our immature political leadership, we now stand on the brink of history.

International observers might wonder why our country is going balls to the wall in the name of what is after all, just a soccer tournament. They probably already know about the economic benefits that the tournament will bring (and its disadvantages) and maybe they, “the international”, have an inkling of what it means to us to host the rest of the world.

The fact of the matter is, as South Africans, we all share a unique history and common story that is unique to our land. We are conscious of our failings, perhaps too much so, as we are weighed down by our guilt, our desires, our expectations, and our debts to each other.

However, it is moments like these where I realise how blessed I am to be a South African. The problems we have today are nothing compared to what we are still conquering, every moment of every day. Every day this nation, in one guise or another, challenges itself to move beyond the easy, ignore the short cut and push forward, one step at a time. Where on earth can you be raised in such a vibrant and interesting place?

Today is a day for all South Africans. I, for one, have never been prouder to be a son of this land, a son of Africa, and most of all, South African. Watching Desmond Tutu show his unbridled joy to millions yesterday on television was wonderful to watch, since even though I was in a bar surrounded by foreigners, I have never felt more at home. While this time of national joy will last a month, by Christ, we deserve it.

In unity there is strength, in our diversity there is power. Together, as we have now shown the world, we can do it. We won’t always get it right and not all the time, but now is the time to lap up the national bread and honey that we all need. Our role now is to welcome the world and show them a party they have never experienced before, and make sure they never forget. Grab your vuvuzelas, your flags and your friends. Ke nako.

Viva South Africa, Viva!