Naming and shaming 2010 traitors

2010-04-12 08:05

There was a time, in many developed countries in the world, when mischievous citizens who brought disrepute upon the land or acted against the best interests of the majority of the people, were tried for treason and either stuck in prison or executed.

Somehow today, treason seems in many cases to have been squeezed out by what democracy calls freedom of expression.

While I am certainly very much in favour of freedom of expression, speech, freedom of the press and the right to strike, I have to wonder, however, at whether these rights are completely unconditional even when they are mischievously used for purposes that undermine the best interests of the majority of the nation.

Take the Football World Cup for example.  Now, in spite of a lot of conjecture about the only people who are going to make money out of this are FIFA, SAFA, the government and assorted passengers on the 2010 gravy train, the facts tell us otherwise.

If you have a look at just one aspect of the World Cup, there is proof aplenty that everyone in the country will benefit one way or another. Quite simply, before and after each of the 73 matches as well as during half time and during highlights, TV coverage will feature short documentaries on South Africa as a travel and investment destination.

These publicity videos will be seen by the largest ever TV audience in the history of mankind. Billions of them. If South Africa's entire investment in the 2010 World Cup was purely for this reason, it would be well worth it because the return on investment over the next 10 or 20 years will be enormous.

That is, if the world cup goes off well. If it is not disrupted by extremists and other crazies and if the news coverage of the football is not pushes into second place by all sorts of negative stuff going on outside of the stadiums. The global TV spotlight will not only be on football in SA but on society in SA.

So, if this represents the biggest opportunity South Africa has ever had or will ever have of showcasing itself to prospective tourists and investors, is there not an argument for making sure that a few self-centred people don't spoil it for the majority?

And could one not argue, given the massive stakes involved, that anyone who purposely disrupts the World Cup is guilty of treason?

Is it time they should be named and shamed?

For example, taxi organisations have threatened to disrupt the World Cup with strikes and protests if their demands aren’t met. Are they simply exercising their right to freedom of expression and the right to strike or are they nothing more than traitors holding the authorities to ransom?

Cosatu has also threatened strike action during the World Cup over the electricity price hikes. Now, much as we the majority might agree with Cosatu that we are all being exploited by Eskom and the government, does the fact that Cosatu have threatened to protest during the World Cup not change things somewhat? While not many people will, have any problem with Cosatu protesting before or after the World Cup, are we not cutting off our noses to spite our faces by disrupting the World Cup and chasing away potential tourists and investors?

Then you have the airlines, quite legally jacking up their prices during the World Cup. But I got an e-mail, from a couple in the UK yesterday who had bought 12 tickets for various games but then found that the cost of a flight was so high they just didn't have the budget to get here. They can't give their tickets away because they can only collect them here. So they are stuck. And angry and frankly, feeling justifiably ripped off. How many more stories are there like this? Are the airlines simple applying the completely legitimate business practice of supply and demand or are they acting against the best interests of the nation? The same goes for hotels, restaurants and B&Bs that have hoisted their prices to ludicrous levels.

Then of course, we have all sorts of politicians saying the most insane things which are bound to make foreign tourists very nervous about coming here.

Not to mention the extremists on the right and left wings stirring up racial hatred and doing really stupid things in press conferences which gets aired worldwide.

Surely a case can be made in all these instances that these people are acting against the best interests of the majority of the population?

So, the big question is this: Do we demonstrate to the world that we are a true democracy in which anyone can say anything because we have freedom of speech. That we are a democracy where struggle songs can be sung openly and symbols of oppression such as the old SA flag and right wing "political parties" allowed parade about in military uniforms.

Or, do we make an exception for the World Cup and, just as one has in any crisis, declare a sort of state of emergency that effectively bans anyone from disrupting the world cup period. After all we are already hiding beggars and vagrants as well as supporting FIFA’s draconian rules that are hardly democratic.  So, why not go the whole hog?

What is it to be? What's best for us? You tell me.

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