The vuvuzela was first used in Mexican stadiums since the 1970s. Originally constructed using tin, the vuvuzela became popular in South Africa in the 1990s. Freddie "Saddam" Maake claims to have invented the vuvuzela by adapting an aluminium version in 1965 from a bicycle horn after removing the black rubber to blow with his mouth. He later found it to be too short and joined a pipe to make it longer. Maake has photographs of himself in the 1970s and 1980s at local South African games and international games in 1992, 1996 and at the 1998 World Cup in France, holding the aluminium vuvuzela. He says the instrument was banned as authorities ruled it as a dangerous weapon that prompted him to find a plastics company that could manufacture it.
Plastic trumpets similar to the South African vuvuzelas became popular as early as 1978 in Argentina, during the FIFA World Cup that took place that year in Argentina.
In 2001, South Africa-based company Masincedane Sport began to mass-produce a plastic version. Neil van Schalkwyk, the founder and co-owner of Masincedane Sport, won the SAB KickStart Award in 2001.