As in many other countries, football is one of the most popular sports in South Africa. The nation’s passion for this sport is relentlessly on the rise now that the 2010 FIFA World Cup has just kicked off in South Africa, for the first time on the African continent. However, the month-long, $1.7 billion event has caused policymakers to leave South African arts by the wayside.

The South African National Arts Council’s budget has plunged from $3.7 million to $1.8M for the fiscal year of 2010 – 2011 in the months leading up to the most widely viewed sporting event in the world. This call was made by the culture ministry, of which the National Arts Council is a department.
Among the speed bumps that have lead to this rough road is the failed promise of 19.7 million dollars of funds that were supposed to be dedicated to World Cup arts initiatives. The money went missing and an investigation was launched last March by culture minister, Lulu Xingwana. However, the results of this investigation have yet to be made public.

The event is not detrimental to all other government departments, of course. Preparations for the games has triggered the improvement of football stadiums, as well as public transportation, and the tourist industry is sure to boom as hotels, restaurants and establishments are sure to have the busiest month they’ve had collectively, yet. The approximate GDP to be generated by the 2010 FIFA World Cup is $21.3 billion. But until that money can get filtered back into the system, arts and artists around the country will have to wait.

“Artists have had to shelve their plans and feel let down at a crucial time when we should be highlighting the uniqueness of our culture,” says Riason Naidoo, director of Cape Town’s Iziko South African National Gallery.

View a previously written post by Mouli Cohen about Arts and Culture.