South Africa today

My art work – African Inspirations

evuspress — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 01:03:31 +0000

Please visit my new art presentation on http://www.wix.com/justart45/home

Vuvuzelas OUT – Vuvuballela IN

evuspress — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 05:21:54 +0000

Empty seats

evuspress — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 14:25:34 +0000

Where are the tickets? Why empty seats? South African soccer fans angry! Ticket sold out or not. World Cup opening and match South Africa- Mexico with empty blocks, Cape Town Green Point stadium match Uruguay- France too, second level main pavilion totally empty! Probably the best seats in the house!

Who got the tickets? Have that been free tickets for SABC or ANC? Or is sold out statistic on FIFA website a fake?

next one – Uruguay team robbed

evuspress — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 13:48:00 +0000

Cape Town – Thieves broke into the Uruguay team hotel and stole $12 000 from two members of the squad while they were playing their match

kick off – Bafana Bafana

evuspress — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 05:02:07 +0000

Go bafana bafana, give the best, good luck today and a lot of fun for all the fans!

Journalists robbed

evuspress — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:55:34 +0000

Three journalists, two Portuguese and one Spanish, in South Africa to cover the World Cup, were robbed at gunpoint at the lodge north-west of Johannesburg early on Wednesday morning.

An armed gang stole money and a camera from four Chinese journalists in South Africa to cover the World Cup. Several men attacked the journalists when their car stopped on the side of the road as they returned to Johannesburg after an interview.

24 hours to world cup: Fans stampede at CT Fan Fest

evuspress — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:39:09 +0000

News 24

Cape Town – A spokesperson for the city of Cape Town, Kylie Hatton, has urged the Cape Town public to stay away from the FIFA Fan Fest area because it is full to capacity. Hatton confirmed an earlier report that one person had been injured while eager soccer supporters tried to gain entrance to the Grand Parade. The Fan Fest can accommodate 17 000 people. The reported injuries were apparently all minor. Another report said that people at the Darling Street entrance were pushing, all trying to gain entrance at the same time, but it became unruly when they broke down barriers. Additional law enforcement officers had been summoned to the area in front of the historic Town Hall. Hatton said the situation had returned to normal. Motorists on the M3 were earlier informed of the traffic congestion in the city centre. The new electronic boards on the highways are keeping Capetonians updated about traffic in the CBD. A message has also appeared on the board, informing motorists that the Fan Fest at the Grand Parade was full and that motorists should stay clear

FIFA World Cup 2010 Cape Town

evuspress — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:47:12 +0000

It starts, the enthusiasm is there. Welcome to the large World Cup festival 2010 in Cape Town.

9th of June 2010, 12:30 pm, Wynberg, Main Road near Grand Central

Weather Wynberg: Sunny, mild 19C

Bafana Bafana reaches also the suburbs of Cape Town! World Cup mood in Wynberg, 25 km of the Green Point stadium!

Facts Green Point Stadium

96 000m³ of concrete were used to buildCape Town Stadium.

The roof weighs 4 700 tons.

Some 9 000 glass panels were used to cover 37 000m² of roof.

Over 5-million (5 234 000, to be exact) bricks were used in the construction of the Stadium.

There are 500 toilets and 360 urinals.

The Stadium has 115 entry turnstiles.

There are 16 lifts in the building.

More than 2 500 workers were employed on site during construction, and almost 1 200 artisans received training from the contractors.

The site on which the Stadium is built is equivalent to six city blocks.

The Stadium features offices, a medical centre, a press centre, four television studios, a conference hall and a police station with jail cells.

The three tiers that make up the Stadium are home to cafés, shops, 250 VIP lounges and 68 000 seats.

The Stadium, and its roof in particular, has been designed to limit noise and minimise the impact of harsh weather. A fabric canopy beneath the roof allows natural light to filter through.

Cape Town, the World Cup and racism

evuspress — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 01:17:42 +0000

News 24 columnists HLENGIWE MNGUNI

The imminent FIFA World Cup has brought out the best and worst in us. And while it is important for us to focus on all the amazing things that are happening in our country, to sweep all the embarrassing things under the carpet, even for four weeks, could do us more harm than good.

When the mayor of Cape Town, Dan Plato announced that the toilets that remained exposed after an ANC Youth League-led rampage had been removed I was puzzled. The toilets had stood there uncovered, for years. Why the sudden attack of conscience on the city’s part?

It has been suggested that it did not look good for a city expecting hordes of World Cup tourists and media to have open toilets dotting township landscapes. It made sense to me.

So, in making sure that the world gets the best reception and is not confronted by awkward sights, the city could have muddied further its relationship with the poor.

While Cape Town has been installed as the jewel of South Africa it should not be forgotten that it is home to many poor people. The same poor people who keep the city’s vital service industry working.

Hiding the poor (it has been reported that the homeless are being taken off the streets to shelters and squatters have been fenced off from view at a training ground) and their living conditions from tourists will not impress anyone. Chances are, even the tourists themselves won’t take kindly to this.

Cape Town’s constant need to hide its poverty and pretend that it is all beaches, mountains and good food will not help the city fight off the perception that it is racist towards black people. Because most of the city’s poor are black, it does not take much for a determined person to make desperate people see racism.

But this perception is not only engrained in the informal settlement or townships around Cape Town.

When I moved to Cape Town, mixed in with all the advice about the fun things to do in Cape Town was a warning: Beware of racist Cape Town. It’s been three months and the warnings have proved unnecessary. Personally, I’ve had no bad experiences and believe it will stay that way.

But when things like this happen it becomes difficult, even for an optimist like me, to convincingly say that racism in Cape Town is no more potent than in Johannesburg – which I believe to be true.

The events of the past few days at the Makhaza informal settlement were no doubt influenced by the ANCYL, but it is on the city council as the elected body to ensure that relations with its residents are not severed to serve the aesthetical needs of tourists who don’t want toilets littering their views of township life.

But then again, I hope there were other more substantial reasons why the toilets were removed completely, because when FIFA packs up the tent and the caravan rides out of town we should make sure that the divides are not more pronounced than before.

AWB to protect Afrikaner farmers

evuspress — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 01:09:56 +0000

from News 24 South Africa

Johannesburg – The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) was in the process of forming a security company to protect Afrikaner farmers, the movement’s new leader Steyn van Ronge has said.

The AWB was registering the company within the confines of the law, “for the protection of the lives of the Boere-Afrikaner and its properties”, Van Ronge said in a speech prepared for delivery at the Paardekraal Monument near Krugersdorp on Saturday.

It was hoped the company would prevent illegal farm occupations and protect lives and property.

Van Ronge said the killing of former AWB leader Eugene Terre’Blanche on Easter Sunday and the murder of about 3 300 farmers since 1994, indicated what a violent society South Africa had become.

- SAPA