South Africa: The vuvuzelas shall not be silenced

“What does Africa have to do to earn respect?” asked Zimbabwean journalist Innocent Madawo in Canada’s Toronto Sun. South Africa has “outdone itself” as host country of this year’s soccer World Cup. “Confounding all pre-tournament predictions of doom and gloom,” it has provided superior accommodations, training facilities, and transportation for all the international teams and their entourages. And there have been no security and crowd-control problems. “Yet little due praise has been accorded. All we hear is nitpicking about the vuvuzela.”

Really? You can still hear? said Michel Boujut in France’s Charente Libre. You must not have been in the stadium at any World Cup game. South African soccer fans spend the entirety of every match blowing those little plastic trumpets, and the din is maddening. One vuvuzela sounds like a hornet. “But when thousands of them buzz at the same time, they make a continuous and deafening roar that rises from the depths of the continent, a monstrous roar, the roar of the raging ocean, the trumpeting of a herd of elephants in heat.” It’s “one of the most irritating noises on earth,” said Scotland’s Daily Record in an editorial. And it’s dangerous, too. Experts say that prolonged exposure can cause permanent hearing loss. Players can’t hear their coaches—even on the sidelines. No wonder so many teams want the vuvuzela banned.

“Yes, it’s noisy, and yes, it’s a cheap plastic tube,” said the South African Times. That’s part of its charm. The vuvuzela is for everyone. The instrument is based on an ancient African horn originally blown at tribal ceremonies and later used to scare away baboons. During the apartheid era, it became ubiquitous at soccer games. Blowing vuvuzelas was one of the only ways black South Africans could cut loose. Now it is an inseparable part of watching a soccer game. We are grateful to Sepp Blatter, the head of the world soccer body, who refused to bow to pressure to ban the vuvuzela at the World Cup. And we’re proud of our tradition. “The vuvuzela is ours, made here on South African soil.”

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Actually, most of them are now made in China, said Chinahush.com. “Although the Chinese team did not make it to the World Cup, perhaps Chinese people can feel satisfied to know that 90 percent of the globally resounding horns are made here.” The five Chinese factories that produce vuvuzelas have been working overtime since last November to fill the orders pouring in from South Africa. With output now at 20,000 horns a day, the industry is hoping that the craze will continue after the World Cup ends. “We are already looking for other opportunities,” one factory owner said. Here’s hoping the vuvuzela becomes the sound of soccer—not just in South Africa but all over the world.