World Cup 2034: Let’s dream big!

For little over a month now, the world has had its eyes fixed on Brazil, where the biggest show on earth unfolded, the FIFA 2014 World Cup; with many watching with great emotion as their teams triumphed or failed in pursuit of the great golden trophy. This past week was no exception as Brazil crashed out of the tournament in one of their worst performances in years.
Later tonight the FIFA World Cup will be over and life will get back to normal.

But it might not be so for many Zimbabweans as reports doing the rounds indicate we might be submitting a bid to host the World Cup in 2034.
The man who made this declaration is none other than Tourism and Hospitailty Industry Minister Engineer Walter Mzembi. Star FM’s Napstar (NS) caught up with Minister Mzembi (WM) to find out what his plans are in terms of hosting the World Cup. We publish excerpts here.

NS: My first question is, were you supporting Germany or Brazil?
WM: Well, since I am married to a Latino, I was supporting Brazil but more importantly because Brazil have been here before (in 2010) warming our space and our grounds as a prelude to the 2010 World Cup. We were naturally inclined to support them.
However, at the end of the day, because of their appalling performance, many switched off their television sets. It was quite a sad performance.

NS: South Africa hosted the FIFA World Cup in 2010 and that was the first time an African nation hosted this tournament.  Now in exactly 20 years to come, Africa will get another chance to host this tournament and you have been quoted in the media as saying Zimbabwe would like to bid for a chance to host the tournament. Is this true?
WM: Well, I made that statement and I genuinely believe we have a chance to put in a bid to host the World Cup going forward from this year’s edition held in Brazil. It is on the back of a genuine conviction that Africa can put the bid, as it were, or Zimbabwe supported by Sub-Saharan Africa.

In fact the 2010 South African bid was crafted like that in the beginning, although in the latter stages of preparations South Africa prepared its own stadia through its provinces and began to pose competition to the sister republics around it.
We had been led to believe that they were going to host some of the matches and if you remember correctly we had a few inspection teams from FIFA coming to look at the suitability of our grounds, that included the then planting of artificial turf at Rufaro Stadium, the inspection of the National Sports Stadium and Barbourfields.

I was very intimate with these issue because then I was the Inter-Ministerial Committee chairperson for the World Cup 2010. I was leading in the front in those preparations and did so because we had lost bidding and participation as a sporting nation.

This led to the entire focus leading to tourism benefits and that is why I became chairperson with David Coltart as my vice.
The thrust then was that we would host at least three matches here but it didn’t turn out that way. The best we got then, after a lot of effort of going up and down trying to lure and incentivise numerous teams to camp here, was to bring Brazil.
We were tested in that regard in terms of how to host a national team of repute.

NS: Do you think if we had been given that chance by South Africa, to co-host some of the games, we would have been able to make the preparations and get to the standard that is required?
WM: We were ready, absolutely ready, for at least three games that time; and as the match between Zimbabwe and Brazil would attest, we were very ready as the game passed without incident – arguably the most exciting game to be played in this country post-Independence.
Going forward what I see, if we are indeed serious and we engage the region, of which I know South Africa is very worried about the white elephants that those stadiums have become in their own backyard, they would like to even get a straight goal to host yet another showcase.

Nothing can stop them, for Brazil – as we speak – just had their third bite at hosting this tournament and there is no rule at all that stops countries that have demonstrated their capacity to host from doing it over and over again. We have seen that even at the Olympics.
We can actually have a situation of South Africa putting in another bid to host the tournament. It would be nice if it was done by a sister republic and Zimbabwe is in the lead to satisfy its own branding quest and requirements going forward in terms of hosting this tournament.

Riding on the back of the infrastructure already in place in South Africa, the stadiums that were built in Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana for World Cup 2010 but were never tested and used, we can put in a regional bid and mitigate the cost that has been the subject of debate since I planted this idea for debate in the public domain. It is possible.

NS: And Infrastructure and hospitality-wise?
WM: If anyone thinks we won’t be ready to host an international tournament, with all hype about Zim-Asset, then it means they are not genuine in terms of what we are trying to achieve.

In Zim-Asset itself, in terms of road upgrades to international standards, we have already put in a tender. I understand (Transport) Minister (Dr Obert) Mpofu has put in a tender for 13 or 14 major trunk roads in the country. What are we putting them up for, if we don’t want them to be gateways into the country’s destinations and tourism resorts?

Not just that, we are talking about a 5 000-10 000-megawatt economy going forward in the next 20 years. What are we doing all these for if we don’t want to be associated we these international showcases of excellence?

We must have a vision that casts us into the future.

NS: So minister are you saying this is just a vision, a plan, for us to get a chance to bid and host the World Cup or have already started working things to work towards this vision?
WM: We planted this idea in the public domain so that we to generate as much debate around it so that we are able to get buy-in from the nation.

It is only then that it will be easy to take it to Cabinet and other forums.
The idea here is that there are more superior ideas in the minds of the 14 million heads of our population than that of the 30 (ministers) in Cabinet. This is a people sport and I think they have more and better input in this, in terms of where we go.

NS: You talked about getting buy-in and that seems to be the thing missing in Brazil right now. It seems like the people have not bought into the idea.  There are a lot of protests, with people saying the money that went into hosting the World Cup should have gone to alleviating poverty within that country. Now when you talk about buy-in Zimbabwe, can you explain that to us?
WM: The difference between Brazil and South Africa in this instance is that Brazil already had hosted the tournament and had very world class infrastructure.

They really didn’t  have to add much to their landscape in terms of road upgrades, hotels, stadiums and airports.
In terms of material and tangible benefits they were outclassed by South Africa. South had nothing, they were coming from a position of without; they didn’t have a stadium in each province, they didn’t have the upgraded roads that they have now, their airports were not what they look like now, and they didn’t have a new regime of hotels that they have now.

In Brazil it was more about their passion and love for the game unlike in SA were it was about leaving a legacy of infrastructural development and the new found intangible benefits that come with a new found brand equity . . .

If comes to Zimbabwe, with a 20-year horizon that is riding on the back of what we have said we want to do in terms of Zim-Asset, you will see the uplifting, the planting of new infrastructure, the maximum and full utilisation of the infrastructure that we are already building.
The Victoria Falls Airport, for instance.

You want to see that the US$150 million that we pumped into a new air traffic hub that we called Victoria Falls begins to attract people the way its sister falls are doing.

You see Niagara Falls, 25-35 million people (visit) while we are only doing one million.

NS: Where does the money come in terms of infrastructure development, you mentioned that South Africa benefited a lot in that department?
WM: The money for stadia, the money for roads for example, we are already floating tenders on public-private partnerships based on toll fees.