South Africa: `World Cup for all! People before profit!'

By Kamcilla Pillay

June 17, 2010, Durban – Daily News – The sound of vuvuzelas cut through the air in Durban on June 16 – but for one large group there was little to celebrate. Amid cries of phansi ngama-fat cats, phansi (down with fat cats, down) and a sea of banners proclaiming the government cared only for the rich, civil rights organisations took to the streets protesting against poor service delivery and the World Cup.[Photos below.]

Abahlali Base Mjondolo, KwaZulu-Natal Subsistence Fisher's Forum, Clairwood Social Forum and about 17 other organisations gathered for what they dubbed an "anti-Thiefa" protest march which started at Dinizulu Park and ended at City Hall yesterday.

"The R40 billion the government has spent on the World Cup could have comfortably housed three million homeless South Africans", said Alice Thomson of the Durban Social Forum. "Soccer will not make a better life for all – it will only make the rich richer and the poor poorer," Thomson said.

This week, Thomson was arrested for distributing anti-FIFA pamphlets at the Fifa Fan Fest in Durban.

Bongani Mthembu, of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, said that the decision to hold the protest on Youth Day was deliberate. "Youth Day is an opportunity for us as the youth to air our grievances and raise our concerns. We can show the foreigners here the truth about what's happening behind the World Cup", he said.

Chairman of KZN Subsistence Fisher's Forum Essop Mohamed said: "Some people were 'tired of falling by the wayside'. We are marching against oppression."

They let FIFA come here and do what they want, but they won't let us fish", he said, referring to a city ruling to bar fishing in certain areas along the beachfront.

Said Shamitha Naidoo, community chairwoman in Pinetown of Abahlali Base Mjondolo: "We need to show them (tourists) what's happening. How will these poor people benefit from the World Cup?"

Protester Kirubavathi Pillay, 68, was also angry at what she said was the inability of the eThekwini Municipality to deliver adequate services. "No one worries about us. We can't manage without some help from the government," Pillay said. "They are not fighting for us. We must fight for us", added Jaysh Ramphul, another marcher.


Photos by Durban Social Forum. Made with Slideshow Embed Tool.

MEMORANDUM OF GRIEVANCES

DATE: June 16, 2010

TO: KZN Premier Zweli Mkhize, Durban Mayor Obed Mlaba, Deputy Mayor Logie Naidoo and Durban City Manager Michael Sutcliffe

RE: Grievances about World Cup 2010 management

We are the citizenry of Durban. Our organisations have long registered grievances about the way the city is being run. In recent months, we have found that many of our problems are worsening, especially because of the way the World Cup has been implemented by FIFA, its corporate partners, politicians and bureaucrats.

While in principle we do not oppose Durban hosting seven World Cup games, we are very opposed to many decisions made by FIFA and city, provincial and national officials. The problems we record below require urgent attention and immediate remedial action.

Economic burden

• Whereas Durban’s 70 000-seater Moses Mabhida Stadium cost taxpayers R3.1 billion; the cost escalation for Mabhida rose from an initial R1.8 billion; and redirecting most of this spending could have erased the majority of the vast backlogs Durban faces, of housing, water/sanitation, electricity, clinics, schools and roads;

• Mabhida’s next-door neighbour is Absa Stadium, home of Sharks rugby, which seats 52 000 and which could easily have been extended

(considering that Durban municipality will knock out 15 000 seats from Mabhida after July);

• the companies and individuals that have profited most from Mabhida’s construction include multinational corporations and those responsible for notorious municipal disasters, such as bus privatiser Remant Alton and Point development failure Dolphin Whispers, along with at least one fake Black Economic Empowerment front company;

• the import bill for Mabhida appears unreasonable, as reflected in breakdowns of Mabhida’s Sky Car due to imported German cables held up for repair by the Icelandic volcano, and in imported German tents erected next to Mabhida by an imported German marquee construction crew;

• the soaring foreign and domestic debt we are now suffering because of World Cup expenses will cause untold problems for the SA economy in years to come; FIFA is not subject to South African taxes; FIFA is also allowed to ignore SA exchange control regulations; and the FIFA profit estimate is more than R25 billion;

Corruption and state failure

•    whereas this kind of extreme waste and crony capitalism typifies the relationship of FIFA to host governments; bribery and corruption have been associated with FIFA’s operations (as documented in lawsuits in Zug and New York); bribes have been predicted (by England’s former World Cup bid manager) that would distort play by some of the leading teams coming to South Africa; and corruption whistle-blowing in Mpumalanga Province led to several suspicious deaths, reportedly by organised hit squads;

•    Durban’s own recent corruption in the construction of low-cost housing by Zikhulise Cleaning, Maintenance and Transport became a national scandal; Durban housing official Nigel Gumede and City Manager Mike Sutcliffe rejected the findings of the National Home Builders’ Registration Council report which shows extensive wrongdoing – one third of houses in Umlazi requiring reconstruction - in a R300 million contract begun in December 2006; politically-connected Zikhulise owners Shauwn and S’bu Mpisane have a notoriously luxurious lifestyle with a car fleet worth a reported R100 million;

•    Durban’s Council and ward committee system has become a form of top-down political control; Council does not take our voices upwards; the democratic gains that were won in 1994 are also our victories, but have been taken from us;

•    the September 2009 attack on the Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) movement, its leaders and well known members, their family members and its offices in the Kennedy Road settlement apparently received the backing of the local ruling party and government structures; many AbM members cannot go back to Kennedy Road; and several of the Kennedy Road 13 are being imprisoned interminably without bail or being charged;

•    the Durban council has made clear its intent to demolish the Early Morning Market at Warwick Junction in favour of a shopping mall; the Early Morning Market is one of the surviving monuments of the indentured Indian labourers; and hundreds of jobs – as well as affordable edibles – for poor people are at stake;

•    Durban fisherfolk have witnessed rich people fishing off expensive boats and yachts unhindered while working-class subsistence fishermen suffer police harassment and arrests; fishermen have recently been denied access to New Pier, the South Pier, the Bluff military base and the quayside shore (Gunter Gulley, Yacht Mole, Lucky Dip); and there is worsening sea-water pollution – rubbish, oil and chemicals in the harbour – and apparently no environmental precautions being taken;

•    Durban’s hundreds of thousands of immigrants are under sustained attack; the May 2008 xenophobic attacks demonstrated a failed municipal state which by August washed its hands of ongoing xenophobia crisis and by November used police brutality to displace desperate refugees; Lesotho migrant workers are protesting the revocation of the ‘six month’ system of border concessions; there remain inadequate support systems and preventative measures against another xenophobia attack; and immigrants continue to face oppression in their dealings with the South African government and police;

Workers, the poor and communities under attack

•    whereas this country is rich because of the theft of our land and because of our work in the farms, mines, factories, kitchens and laundries of the rich; and that wealth is therefore also our wealth;

•    the working class and poor of Durban are under severe pressure because of the world and SA economic crises, which have not yet lifted for us, costing the country more than a million lost jobs and leaving Durban badly exposed in sectors like shipping, clothing and textiles; poor and working people are being pushed out of any meaningful access to citizenship; recent government statistics prove the urban poor are becoming poorer; and we are being forced off land and out of our cities;

•    too many of us who have formal water and electricity connections have not been able to afford the fast-rising costs of these services and face disconnection; the promise of housing has been downgraded to forced removal to a transit camp more like prisons than homes; housing that has been built exists in human dumping grounds far outside of the cities and far from work, schools, clinics and libraries; and there is a new, heavy-handed, privatised municipal debt collection strategy that is wrecking state-community relationships;

•    poor flat dwellers have suffered from unaffordable and exploitative rents; and the poor have been forced to sign exploitative rental agreements under duress and threat of eviction;

•    farm dwellers have suffered the impoundment of cattle, demolition of homes, denial of the right to bury loved ones, denial of basic service and brutality (and sometimes murder) at the hands of some farmers; and a biased justice system which has systematically undermined farm dwellers;

•    outsourcing of casualised labour has become a full-fledged crisis, as witnessed in the revolt by Stallion Security workers who were exploited at Moses Mabhida and four other stadiums to the extent of protesting in the face of police stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets; crises caused by Durban’s labour brokers include the ports – partly responsible for a recent three-week strike by transport workers – and the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where underpaid workers (less than R1000 take-home pay for UKZN cleaners) are suffering;

World Cup’s pro-rich bias

•    whereas while the rich have benefited from the World Cup, the poor have not; the Zakumi doll mascot and other memorabilia were made in China not South Africa; Durban’s informal street traders have been displaced and barred from selling in the vicinity of stadiums; and Durban fisherfolk have been evicted from the city’s main North Beach and South Beach piers;

•    township soccer facilities were meant to be created and maintained with state subsidies but have not been; and street kids were brutally displaced from central Durban in advance of the World Cup; according to former chief executive  of the South African Premier Soccer League Trevor Phillips; “Durban has two football teams which attract crowds of only a few thousand. It would have been more sensible to have built smaller stadiums nearer the football-loving heartlands and used the surplus funds to have constructed training facilities in the townships”;

•    FIFA’s tourist initiatives are based on what it calls ‘luxurious ambiance’ not working-class hospitality; promises of 450 000 international visitors for the World Cup were high overestimates; and many jobs in the tourism sector were shed when the overestimates became apparent;

Public transport

•    whereas many in Durban continue to be dependent upon private automobiles (with resulting adverse impacts on climate change); there has been a sharp decline in Durban’s public transport compared to other South African cities which have begun investing in the Bus Rapid Transit system; a government web-site (www.sa2010.gov.za) promised benefits for the host cities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Soccer including “a fast, comfortable and low cost urban transport system … for central business districts but also in townships”;

•    Durban officials have implemented air-conditioned “People Mover” buses with security guards at every stop, running every 15 minutes from 06h00 until 23h00, but only in the city centre and along the beachfront, mostly for the benefit of tourists; there is still terribly inadequate public transport in both the townships and suburbs, and many areas are currently unserviced, and others have with an infrequent and unreliable service with no bus timetables available;

Environment

•    whereas the ‘greenwashing’ of the World Cup includes incorrect claims by Durban officials that the CO2 permanently emitted in the vast cement construction plus increased air travel can be ‘offset’ by planting trees (which themselves are only a temporary, fragile container of CO2 because they emit the same carbon when they die and biodegrade); officials brag about ‘carbon credits’ from burning methane from rubbish dumps in a World Bank Clean Development Mechanism project (even though such ‘emissions trading’ is a dangerous distraction from fighting climate change), and the poorest people of Durban will suffer the most from climate change;

•    there is no sense in constructing new coal-fired plants (such as Medupi) and nuclear generators so as to give further electricity subsidies to vast multinational corporations such as BHP Billiton (which receives the world’s cheapest power); 100% renewable energy is a pre-requisite to avert global climate disruptions; the refusal to phase out coal, oil and gas also causes military conflicts, magnifying social and environmental injustice; and governments; corporations such as BP continue to support and finance fossil fuel exploration, extraction and activities that worsen global warming such as forest degradation and destruction on a massive scale, while dedicating only token sums to renewable energy, and leaving areas like South Durban with some of the world’s worst air pollution due to oil refining;

•    global climate disruptions – extreme weather events, droughts, floods, increased disease, scarce water - are already disproportionately felt by small island states, coastal peoples, indigenous peoples, local communities, fisherfolk, women, youth, poor people, elderly and marginalised communities;

Our rights of expression

•    whereas according to the bid proposal and subsequent contracts with the South African government, FIFA was given full indemnity “against all proceedings, claims and related costs (including professional adviser fees) which may be incurred or suffered by or threatened by others;” and in addition, “Police officers and other peace officials will be provided to enforce the protection of the marketing rights, broadcast rights, marks and other intellectual property rights of FIFA an its commercial partners” – as witnessed in the ridiculous arrest of Dutch women whose only crime was to wear an orange dress to Soccer City for the Holland-Denmark game;

•    our own leading journalists are stifled from reporting on FIFA’s wrongdoing because of a required pledge not to throw the organisation into ‘disrepute’ as a prerequisite for accreditation, as witnessed by the refusal of the national broadcaster to show the documentary film Fahrenheit 2010 made partly in Durban;

•    the murder of three young men in Phoenix earlier this month is yet more evidence of local police brutality, as was the excessive force – stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets - used to subdue non-violent Stallion Security workers protesting at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Monday, June 14;

We therefore demand

• adequate compensation to Durban ratepayers and national taxpayers for the windfall profits made by construction of unnecessary stadiums such as Moses Mabhida, investigations into extreme cost escalations, and a renewed commitment for a fiscal boost to remove South Africa’s vast backlogs of housing, water/sanitation, electricity, clinics, schools and roads;

• immediate imposition of taxation and exchange controls on multinational and local corporations associated with the World Cup, on grounds that contracts entered into with FIFA are legally Odious;

•    investigations into bribery and corruption associated with FIFA contracts and World Cup construction in Durban and especially in Mpumalanga Province, and full criminal investigations into Durban’s own recent corruption scandals;

•    a thorough overhaul of Durban’s Council and ward committee system so as to introduce genuine democracy and popular participation;

•    a commission of inquiry into events associated with the jailing of the Abahlali baseMjondolo Kennedy Road 13, their unconditional release, and the right-of-return of AbM to Kennedy Road;

•    the end of municipal harassment of traders, especially in the Early Morning Market at Warwick Junction, and subsidies that would permit it to become an historic monument, having just marked the market’s centenary;

•    the end of municipal harassment of Durban fisherfolk, the imposition of more reasonable fishing license fees, and a recommitment to cleaning the harbour and beaches of pollution of all sorts;

•    a renewed commitment to combating the scourge of xenophobia;

•    a redistribution of the society’s income and wealth so that South Africa is no longer the world’s most unequal major economy, an end to the municipal debt collection strategy and other systems that worsen inequality, and increases in free basic water and electricity allotments financed through a luxury consumption tax on those who use too much;

•    an end to exploitative rental and housing arrangements, to oppression of rural people and to injustice against farm dwellers;

•    a ban on labour broking, as has long been promised by the ruling party;

•    a dramatic increase in township soccer and sports facilities;

•    follow-through on the promise of “a fast, comfortable and low cost urban transport system … for central business districts but also in townships” and an expansion of “People Mover” buses across metro eThekwini;

•    an end to new coal-fired plants and nuclear generators so as to save the environment from certain destruction, stringent monitoring of air and water quality and public access to the findings, strict law enforcement against polluters and littering, a commitment to proper maintenance of all Durban’s green areas in a cohesive, sensitive, responsible and inclusive manner for the benefit of the environment and the people of Durban not just the city elite, dedication to the eradication and control of alien species with a view to permanent job creation, and strict enforcement of city bylaws by Metro Police to prevent urban decay, slum development and the resultant health hazards and environmental degradation;

•    a retraction of indemnity to FIFA and end to the order prohibiting journalists from throwing FIFA into ‘disrepute’ as a prerequisite for accreditation;

•    an end to police brutality, proper policing of all neighbourhoods, and redirection of policing resources spent on FIFA to all citizens;

•    an end to the arrogant, authoritarian, exclusive, insensitive, parochial decision-making processes undertaken by the Ethekwini Municipality throughout all areas of its jurisdiction.

When considering the speed and lavishness with which services were delivered for the 2010 World Cup, we have no doubt the above demands can be met timeously and professionally.

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The flags flutter from every car, a sock on every mirror and DJ blasting out at you from every radio. “FIFA is here …. CAN YOU FEEL IT”. Yes I can feel it, I can hear it, I can see it I can even smell it, the problem is; Mrs Dlamini who has Aids can’t feel it she’s dead; she died last night alone in her shack where the wind seeps in and freezes her, John Khumalo can’t feel it .. he was stabbed last night and there is no bed at the local hospital to accommodate him, Patricia Hlongwane cant feel it, the hunger pangs that tear at her gut block out everything except the vuvuzelas of unemployment, grinding poverty and trying to run a child headed household and she herself but yet a child. There is joy in the air, it is really a pity that only those with full bellies, fuller wallets and obscene bank accounts experience it.

FIFA and its invasion of our country has and will come to mean many things for the peoples of our land. To the wealthy the invasion is by one of their own, to the political predators it will be a feeding frenzy and to the poor a bargain basement fire sale of their freedom, their right to dignity and an access to the protection that they, the vulnerable, should have at the hands of the state of which they are citizens and the government that has sworn to protect them. The invasion by FIFA has meant a total surrender of our constitution and all the related right; the right to make our grievances known to those we have elected to govern in our name and a deeper betrayal of our liberation struggle and our national sovereignty. With all the pageantry and pizzazz the underpinning of the event still remains grand theft and international fraud. It is also an indictment on the sycophantic proponents of the event who will, like pigs at a trough, walk away with fat bellies smiling all the way to the bank. Is this the price we as south Africans and citizens are and should be prepared to pay? The answer is a resounding no! An agreement means that our children will be burdened by a national debt that we will be compelled to pay just as we were compelled to pay the apartheid debt. We, even from the position of government, do not have the right nor the power, to mortgage the future of our country, our youth and our futures for what is nothing more that an extravaganza similar to the extravaganzas thrown by corrupt Caesars in a declining and decaying civilization.

When a country begins to fail it always falls back on distracting the masses, entertaining the masses, history is mute witness to that. When a country begins to fail it oppresses its own citizens, when a country begins to fail it becomes deaf to the voice of its people; when a country begins to fails it suppresses the rights of its people, when a country begins to fail it plunders its resources in orgies of pilferage, when a country begins to fails it abandons its people. As freedom loving people of this beloved land, for which great people have sacrificed, we ask; has South Africa failed us, has the system failed us; have our leaders forsaken us and forged unholy alliances with those who steal from us and leave us mired in poverty. For every dollar that FIFA takes out of our country a child will be rendered illiterate somewhere, a woman will be homeless, a hospital will have no bed. Somewhere beneath a framed picture of Nelson Mandela a thousand Mrs Dlaminis will die alone, abandoned by those whom she voted for to protect and shelter her, even as she dreamt the dream of a free South Africa.

Before we as a people and nation blow another vuvuzela or cheer another team we must ask ourselves is this the freedom we dreamt of, is this the price we are prepared to pay, is the dark, bleak picture before us the legacy we wish to leave posterity. This is a time to reflect and ask questions, rise above political timidity and demand from those who govern in our name, that they place the wellbeing of our people above their voracious greed, shallow vanity and unholy allegiances to international plunderers. We demand that our people have homes, our children education and the vulnerable their right to protection.

We demand freedom!

Rassool Snyman
Palestine Support Committee

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The Creative Circle

The THIEFA Journals #2

The air was thick with expectation one could almost cut it with a knife. My neighbor blew a newer sharper vuvuzela that threatened to spike my eardrum and bring me to the brink of deafness. Should I care? No I don’t think so after all it was June 16th …2010 Youth day formerly named Freedom Day. This was the day the youth died for our freedom; the day our youth stepped across the line and in so doing moved themselves from being recipients of struggle to being placed them at the epicenter of struggle, made them icons and revolutionaries that have laid the framework for the youth of our country, to have fireside stories told about them, to be emulated …. has this happened? I am not quite sure after all we live in times where all is never what it seems to be, new heroes are thieves and pilferers not those who lay down their lives for their people moreover youth have shorter memories and longer needs to be gratified. But nonetheless excitement permeates the air even if it is only about the pageantry and national pride. Everyone awaits the Bafa B afana match tonight.

In the city the dissidents and disaffected march upon the city demanding a range of different things from the city, its managers, FIFA, security companies and some a little more muted, a change of system. Some march with single issues which if dealt with will go their ways and part from the marching masses; others demand better services from their City which treats them like mere clients rather than citizens with rights and yet others demand a change of system; a dethronement of the oppressor and a cleaning up of what has become the national political latrine. They marchers shake fists, chant slogans then hand the smiling glib city managers pieces of paper with lists of demands. The managers, with expertise and practiced dexterity, take the papers, shake hands whilst thanking the marchers and go back into their plush offices. Will anything change I don’t know as the slick managers have done this before; a thousand times before and very little, if anything, has changed.

The marchers mill about at the gates of the political citadel unsure whether they meant to storm it, lay siege to it or just frighten it with a display of short term aggression. One is reminded of the feinting charges made by elephants when they protect their young or territory. The crowds move off each amongst them interpreting the event differently; to some a victory, to others a ritual to be performed at yet another time, for another reason, in an endless line of reasons. Some smile contently; they have gotten their five minutes of fame at a historical event, other are yet angry for the system remains the same as they go back to their grinding poverty, run down shacks and bleak dreams , others like colonial era missionaries get into their cars and go home to their million rand homes and warm hearths. Another cup of soup Cadbury … warm the cockles old boy. They have spoken for and on behalf of the restless natives; that is enough for them. The more things change the more they stay the same.

It is time for the long awaited game. On the field is the team, the political backers and FIFA. The game begins with a great show of optimism, one goal for the foreigners, another goal for the foreigners , the crowd get fidgety some leave, flags drooping and vuvuzelas hanging to the ground in disappointment. The stands are now deserted, a ghostly remnant of what promised to have been a glorious event. One man remains sitting on the empty stands his face downcast, betrayed by the politicians, politics, FIFA and the team he hoped would bring back the national pride. He raises the vuvuzela to his lips and blows a sad note; the lights switch off one by one, in the darkness a tear rolls down his face. He sees with dawning clarity and deepening despair, his betrayal and the death of his dreams.

The cold wind blows a paper into the air tossing it higher and higher with each cutting gust. The team, officials and political hyenas have all left, the windswept stand are empty, bare, and he, with the rest of the nation, will be left in the dark; cold and alone. A red card for the politicians and a yellow card for ESKOM I think to myself as I turn of the lights and stare into the dark.

Rassool Snyman

Poet, Writer and observer of human foibles

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(Shocking as it is, treat with caution as it's an undercount. The attempts at 'greening' - Gautrain and offsets - are ludicrous. And I'm certain they've massively underestimated emissions from stadium construction, especially cement.)

World Cup 2010 Carbon Footprint Will Be Whopping 6x That of Last Event
by Yuka Yoneda, 06/11/10

http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/06/11/world-cup-2010-carbon-footprint-will-be-6x-that-of-last-event/

According to a startling infographic made for EU Infrastructure and a report by the Norwegian Embassy, the carbon footprint of this year’s World Cup in South Africa will be a whopping 6 times that of the last competition that took place in Germany 4 years ago. Many factors come into play – construction, travel, energy efficiency and existing infrastructure. Read on to see how each one adds to the 2,753,251 tons of CO2 (the equivalent of yearly emissions of over a million cars) that the event is projected to generate, what steps are being taken to possibly offset some of the ungreenness and how some of what is contributing to the massive footprint could actually be a good thing for South Africa.

Construction makes up a decent portion of the footprint contributing 15,359 tons of CO2 to the total. To be fair, it’s important to point out that unlike past host locations, South Africa didn’t have many existing stadiums and needed to build new ones. As you may know, cement production releases carbon at a ratio of one ton of carbon for each ton of cement, and the amount of the material needed to construct the 10 main venues for games was substantial.

Another major factor will be international travel. Since many, if not the majority, of fans will be making the trek from Europe, the fact that the games will be located in South Africa ups the amount of carbon from travel quite a bit from past competitions held in European countries to 1,856,589 tons. In addition to how the fans are getting to the games, their energy consumption while they stay at hotels and other accommodations is projected to release 340,128 tons of carbon into the atmosphere largely due to the poor energy efficiency of South Africa’s buildings.

So what’s the good news? Well, much of what has been built has incorporated sustainable features like solar panels and efficient lighting, and will hopefully be used for other events for years to come. In terms of travel within South Africa, the Gautrain, a high-speed rail network, has been constructed to transport fans around the country, and will also remain as an alternative to cars for residents.

And a plan to reduce the games’ carbon footprint is currently in progress. According to ENS Newswire, the Global Environment Facility, the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, and the South African Department of Environmental Affairs have partnered to secure $1 million in funding from the Global Environmental Facility Fund to install solar panels and efficient lights on the streets and promote low carbon participation by handing out informational packets to fans.

Solly Phetoe, COSATU NW Provincial Secretary, 30 June 2010

COSATU and its affiliates are seriously disturbed by the ongoing poor community service delivery and the poor response of the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS) to the high unemployment rate which is increasing on a daily basis.

Now we are still told that there is no budget for water in the Setlagole rural community area. We are told that some of the developments or projects to create decent work are suspended for making money available to the FIFA World Cup.

At the time when the FIFA World Cup was coming to South Africa, we were told that its programmes will also play a central role to improve opportunities for SMMEs and creating some jobs for the poor working class, in particular for the unemployed and rural communities.

COSATU in the province is requesting the provincial government and all the municipalities to release a public report on who benefited from the FIFA World Cup, in particular the PVAs.

Creating decent jobs has been a theory in all the MEC budget speeches since 2009, no action, no sign of programmes towards creating decent work. The PGDS is also not able to respond to the economic crisis we are facing in the province. We are losing jobs in mining, manufacturing and agriculture due to the political agenda and personal interests of our deployees in the government.

Exposing corruption in all government departments and municipalities will continue regardless of threats, intimidation, victimisation and the plan to terminate ANC membership to some of members of COSATU who are whistle blowers.

Consolidating working class power in defence of the decent work and socialism!

Norman Mampane, POPCRU National Spokesperson, 29 June 2010

POPCRU has noted the public opinion poll that was conducted on-line by SOWETAN yesterday in which readers were asked as to whether the World Cup has been beneficial to the poor people in South Africa.

And it was interesting to have observed that out of 5334 participants, around 66, 89% said “Only the rich have been reaping the rewards and only 18, 91% said “jobs were created and tourism brought money into the country and lastly around 14, 21% said “the benefit will be realized in the long run”.

Whilst we agree that not many of the working class have access to these technological devices to cast their opinions, we are content that such an assessment should be done to assess the impact of changing the lives of the ordinary masses. Many will recall that our working class were barred from selling pap and vleis around stadiums, and that might have created such no benefit.

The legacy of the FIFA 2010 World Cup must be celebrated and also humanization of mankind must be upheld.

Aluta Continua!