It takes quite a bit to dislodge childhood fears. Fears of standing on cracks, misbehaving before Christmas and headmasters. Draped dressing gowns that look like monsters and suspicious shadows looming from cupboards can still cause sleeplessness, even for adults.
As white children growing up in the Old South Africa, we also feared the townships. This fear wasn’t something that adults created for any particular reason, it was more a fear that formed itself simply because “the townships” were this space that was never spoken of. It was a vague, gloomy, unknown territory that maids and gardeners disappeared into when they left the leafy suburbs where we lived behind. When I was young, it was also a place over the horizon that occasionally emitted plumes of ominous black smoke. When we drove past townships on our way to somewhere else, we would avert our eyes, almost not acknowledging their existence.
Yesterday was the day to confront this old and musty fear and put it to rest. Time to go to the township! And what a joyous occasion it was, along with 86-odd-thousand others, who all seemed totally oblivious to the fact that this outing could even be perceived as something scary. Buoyed on the spirit of camaraderie and national pride, all the paranoias of the past seemed totally ludicrous. This was a place to be proud of, not fearful of; Soccer City, with its broad, embracing terraces and generous sun-drenched curves, is the antithesis of that bleak, negative prospect that Soweto once was.
And all the visitors, local and international, came with a common goal: to celebrate unity, to feel a part of something momentous, to enjoy world-class soccer, to make a celebratory noise. It really is remarkable to be surrounded by all of these Kodak moments that we’ve only seen with scepticism before. Now we are living them, sharing them and revelling in how special they are.
Fleeting as these impressions may be – the World Cup will come to an end – they are still powerful enough to forever blow away those memories of the black plumes of smoke that characterised our darkest days. Thanks to soccer for providing the platform, thanks to the world for being our witness and thanks to all South Africans who are going out of their way to make each other proud of what we have achieved and whom we have become.