The Ancient Roman emperors gave bread and circuses to the masses to retain their loyalty but gifting a community a new stadium in which to host the circuses and eat the bread could be a uniquely South African twist to an old political trope. The phrase “bread and circuses” is attributed to the Roman poet Juvenal, who wrote: “The People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.” It could have been written for us...