JOHANNESBURG: South Africa whipped itself into a World Cup frenzy on Wednesday as the national side paraded through Johannesburg and holders Italy flew in to defend their crown, two days before the kick-off.Tens of thousands lined the streets of the Sandton business district to hail the Bafana Bafana national team, draping themselves in flags and honking the ear-splitting vuvuzela trumpets as the team came past on an open-top bus.There were similar scenes throughout Johannesburg’s northern suburbs, as office workers left their buildings and lined the streets to blow vuvuzelas and wave South African flags, as passing cars tooted their horns.Some wore clown wigs in national colours, and others had makarapas — hard hats carved and painted into the shape of footballers and flags. Schoolchildren were dismissed at midday for a special month-long World Cup holiday, bringing many youngsters on to the sidewalk with their parents for the festivities.The noise from the plastic vuvuzela horns, set to become one of the main talking points of the tournament, drowned out all conversation — including attempts by television journalists to deliver two-way reports to their studio.Thousands also poured into the streets of Cape Town to answer a call on the radio to blow their vuvuzelas at lunchtime. Zanele Ntuli, communication and events officer at a Cape Town NGO, joined workers who spilled out of offices around parliament, wearing a green fake fur Alice band with two South African flags sticking out the top.“It was a national call to have a vuvuzela moment,” he said. “Never in my life did I think this would come to Africa, let alone South Africa.” As the government urged fans to be on their best behaviour for the hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors, South Africans also delighted in the prospect that their icon, Nelson Mandela, would be among the crowds at Friday’s opener.The front-page of The Sowetan proclaimed the event would now be the “Mandela Show” while a headline in The Star read “Deafening Noise Can’t Curb Kick-off Fever”, as it described final rehearsals for a World Cup concert on Thursday.The sense of anticipation has been heightened by an unexpected upturn in the form of Bafana Bafana, who go into Friday’s opening match against Mexico on the back of a 12-match unbeaten run.