internet | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

Fewer than 2 % of the World Cup tickets have been sold to African countries other than South Africa, reports the Cape Times. FIFA’s goal of making the World Cup an “African World Cup” has not been met to date.

Of the total of 2 million tickets sold to date, only 11 500 have been sold to other African countries. This is viewed as a “dismal” performance by Tembi Tichaawa, a researcher at the Walter Sisulu University. He blames the complicated FIFA World Cup ticket purchasing procedure for the poor sales. “Technology has failed Africans” he is reported to have said.

The highest sales to African countries have been to soccer fans in Mocambique, Botswana and Kenya, at about 1 500 tickets sold in each of these countries. Poor internet connections and lack of credit card ownership are said to stand in the way of ticket purchases from Africa, and Ticaawa reacted as follows: “The high technology method of selling tickets needs to be urgently looked at by Fifa. The emphasis should have been on African fans. For us here we go to a ticket box, but that is not the case with the World Cup”.

South African soccer fans lead ticket sales, at 790 000, followed by the USA (116 765), the United Kingdom (68 213) and Germany (30 974).

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

The Sweet Service Award goes to M-Web, the largest supplier of internet services in South Africa, who have passed on their broadband savings to their customers. All M-Web subscribers will receive at least one extra GigaByte of broadband for their subscriptions, without an increase in their subscription fee. Even a booster package of R 99, which bought 1 GB in the past, will now supply 1,5 GB.

The Sour Service Award goes to the SABC TV Licence department, for their inability to provide a tax invoice – instead they issue a statement, yet expect to be paid for the new annual subscription. A SABC TV call center employee refused to provide the Invoice initially, until the centre supervisor’s assistance was requested. Given the financial problems of the SABC, one wonders why their staff are so arrogant and rude to TV viewers, as they should be welcoming payment, and make it as easy as possible for TV licences to be paid.

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog. Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.