SHOCKING thign you didn't know about Fifa World Cup 2010
Stark contrast between money, misery
By Morris Dalla Costa, QMI Agency
NELSPRUIT -- The 18 orange girders around the outside of Mbombela Stadium are deceptive.
When you get closer, you see they are really 18 steel giraffes, 48 metres high. Inside the stadium, the 40,000 seats are painted in black and white zebra stripes.
South Africa is deceptive.
Mbombela Stadium is in Nelspruit, a four-hour drive from Johannesburg. It is mostly agricultural country, a cross between Saskatchewan, the foothills of Alberta and the orange groves of Florida.
Nelspruit and its stadium are supposed to represent Africa, perhaps even the new Africa.
But the real Africa, the current Africa and many would say the future Africa, sit in the shadows of the giant giraffes.
Across the paved road from the $137-million stadium is Matafil Township. It is surrounded by steel fencing with an opening that allows access to the houses. Most of them are mud-walled, sheet metal or planked wood.
Outhouses dot the area. Residents sit outside their homes, many staring at the stadium no more than a stone's throw from where they live.
The stadium is built on their land.
In one of the starkest examples of the kind of contrast South Africa represents, world cup organizers decided to spend millions on a stadium that will stage four games. It is state of the art and stands in all it's glory, an affront to the several thousands who live across from it.
It is inconceivable that the government and World Cup organizers could be so callous in building the stadium without taking care of the people who allowed them to do it.
Mbombela Stadium is the most controversial of all the stadia built in South Africa.
Organizers negotiated with the Matsafani for the land, finally convincing them to give up the land in exchange for promises of new housing, roads, water and sewer mains.
The land exchanged hands for one rand, at that time 13 cents. It's been more than five years and nothing has happened.
Residents took the case to court and were awarded $1 million but they have seen neither money nor improvements.
Two schools were torn down to make room for the stadium. There were promises that they would be rebuilt elsewhere. Instead, students now must study in makeshift structures and there is no sign of any new school taking shape.
Meanwhile, the stadium was built under the stink of corruption and perhaps murder. Six men who complained about contracts being let without tender have been found murdered.
Wetlands were filled in without concern for the environment or surrounding area.
But all of that may as well be as far away as the moon as far as the Matsafani are concerned.
The World Cup may as well be played on the moon. No one seemed particularly concerned whether Italy or New Zealand would win the game about to be played in the stadium.
Pirini Spiniwe sits at the entrance of Matafil. Tupperware containers fill the table in front of her. She has made food she hopes to sell but she has no customers.
"They (organizers) don't let anyone come this way," she said. "That was our land and we have been waiting so long. We were told we would get new houses. We keep filling out forms and they take them away and we hear nothing."
Spiniwe says no one has jobs.
"They won't let us go near the fence. They just take their wives (into the stadium) to work and we sit here. We have so very little. We are forgotten. No one cares."
The Matsafani are patient, friendly people who are unfazed when you walk into their community. There is a resignation in their speech and body language. They are likely used to seeing this type of interest as the games are played practically outside their front door.
Some still dare to hope that when the World Cup is over, the government will fulfill their promises. But life's experiences have taught them otherwise.
"We have to have hope," said 25-year-old Welcome Mashabane. "You can't stop. Maybe when the World Cup is over and there is more time, they will remember us. I will say they will because I can't say that nothing will come."
Joseph Ndloue owns a mud-walled home. His father sits on a chair with his back against the wall. His wife is cooking on an open fire and four or five children are milling about the home.
He asks for 20 rand ($3) for some cold drinks.
"This is my home," he says proudly. "I think it is just time. (The government) will take time and then maybe they will do what they say they will ... if not ..."
When told it's been more than five years, he shrugs and walks away.
The majestic orange-giraffe girders look down on his house and on the thousands who go the games.
"Welcome to South Africa," they seem to say.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Football comes to Nelspruit, a world away
By Gideon Long
Reuters
Friday, June 18, 2010; 12:02 PM
NELSPRUIT, South Africa (Reuters) - Drive to Nelspruit from Johannesburg, across the grasslands of the high veld and then down through the lush vegetation of the low veld, and the first thing you see as you approach the city is the football stadium.
With its green roof and bright orange roof supports, it looks from a distance like a giant spider with florescent legs, half-hidden in the undergrowth.
But get closer and the orange legs reveal themselves to be 18 steel giraffes, each 48 meters high. Step inside the Mbombela Stadium, and you find the 45,000 seats are painted in bold black and white zebra stripes.
In case you had any doubt, this is Africa.
Nelspruit, the smallest of the 10 World Cup host cities, is marketing itself on this quintessentially African imagery.
If you want a safari with your soccer, this is your place: the world famous Kruger National Park is an hour's drive away and South Africa's only chimpanzee sanctuary is just down the road.
Head north and you soon find yourself in a breathtaking landscape of deep gorges and craggy peaks. "God's Window," "Pilgrim's Rest," "Robbers' Pass" -- the names on the signposts are evocative.
NATURAL SPLENDOUR
But behind the images of natural splendour that Nelspruit is presenting to the world during the World Cup, there lies a murkier reality. The construction of the $140 million stadium was plagued by delays and controversy.
As one of Nelspruit's local newspapers, The Bush Telegraph, reminded its readers this week "there was some nasty goings-on to get the land for the venue."
Two schools had to be relocated and people in the nearby township of Mataffin complain they have yet to be fairly compensated.
"What good is this thing to us?" asked one resident of Mataffin, who identified herself only as Gwenda, as she pointed to the stadium from her garden, just a few hundred meters away but separated from her by metal barriers.
"This football is no use to me."
Whether the stadium will be of use to anyone in this rural corner of South Africa will only become apparent once the World Cup is over.
While one can imagine the stadiums in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town being used for big sporting events and concerts, that is harder to picture in Nelspruit, an agricultural hub of 220,000 people.
Even at the opening World Cup match here, Chile's 1-0 defeat of Honduras, nearly a third of the seats were empty. Soccer's world governing body FIFA will be hoping for an improvement in the three remaining matches.
The next clash promises to be a sell-out, with world champions Italy in town to face New Zealand on Sunday.
After that, Nelspruit hosts two more matches -- Australia against Serbia on June 23 and North Korea against the Ivory Coast on June 25.
Only one team, Chile, have chosen to base themselves here, and it is perhaps in appreciation of that that the locals have warmed to the South Americans.
Plenty of South Africans in this city are sporting the red, white and blue of Chile as well as the green and gold of South Africa.
There are definitely advantages to following football in Nelspruit rather than in South Africa's bigger cities. It is much easier to get around and it feels safer, a major concern for traveling fans.
It is warmer too. While fans in Cape Town and Rustenburg have been huddling together for warmth at recent matches, it is still relatively balmy in this sub-tropical corner of the country.
"Of the three cities I've been to so far, including Cape Town, the atmosphere here is definitely the best," said Willem Schol, a Chilean fan. "We were in the FIFA Fanfest last night and the atmosphere was amazing."
The closed John Mdluli school in Nelspruit with Mbombela Stadium in the background.
By Morris Dalla Costa, QMI Agency
NELSPRUIT -- The 18 orange girders around the outside of Mbombela Stadium are deceptive.
When you get closer, you see they are really 18 steel giraffes, 48 metres high. Inside the stadium, the 40,000 seats are painted in black and white zebra stripes.
South Africa is deceptive.
Mbombela Stadium is in Nelspruit, a four-hour drive from Johannesburg. It is mostly agricultural country, a cross between Saskatchewan, the foothills of Alberta and the orange groves of Florida.
Nelspruit and its stadium are supposed to represent Africa, perhaps even the new Africa.
But the real Africa, the current Africa and many would say the future Africa, sit in the shadows of the giant giraffes.
Across the paved road from the $137-million stadium is Matafil Township. It is surrounded by steel fencing with an opening that allows access to the houses. Most of them are mud-walled, sheet metal or planked wood.
Outhouses dot the area. Residents sit outside their homes, many staring at the stadium no more than a stone's throw from where they live.
The stadium is built on their land.
In one of the starkest examples of the kind of contrast South Africa represents, world cup organizers decided to spend millions on a stadium that will stage four games. It is state of the art and stands in all it's glory, an affront to the several thousands who live across from it.
It is inconceivable that the government and World Cup organizers could be so callous in building the stadium without taking care of the people who allowed them to do it.
Mbombela Stadium is the most controversial of all the stadia built in South Africa.
Organizers negotiated with the Matsafani for the land, finally convincing them to give up the land in exchange for promises of new housing, roads, water and sewer mains.
The land exchanged hands for one rand, at that time 13 cents. It's been more than five years and nothing has happened.
Residents took the case to court and were awarded $1 million but they have seen neither money nor improvements.
Two schools were torn down to make room for the stadium. There were promises that they would be rebuilt elsewhere. Instead, students now must study in makeshift structures and there is no sign of any new school taking shape.
Meanwhile, the stadium was built under the stink of corruption and perhaps murder. Six men who complained about contracts being let without tender have been found murdered.
Wetlands were filled in without concern for the environment or surrounding area.
But all of that may as well be as far away as the moon as far as the Matsafani are concerned.
The World Cup may as well be played on the moon. No one seemed particularly concerned whether Italy or New Zealand would win the game about to be played in the stadium.
Pirini Spiniwe sits at the entrance of Matafil. Tupperware containers fill the table in front of her. She has made food she hopes to sell but she has no customers.
"They (organizers) don't let anyone come this way," she said. "That was our land and we have been waiting so long. We were told we would get new houses. We keep filling out forms and they take them away and we hear nothing."
Spiniwe says no one has jobs.
"They won't let us go near the fence. They just take their wives (into the stadium) to work and we sit here. We have so very little. We are forgotten. No one cares."
The Matsafani are patient, friendly people who are unfazed when you walk into their community. There is a resignation in their speech and body language. They are likely used to seeing this type of interest as the games are played practically outside their front door.
Some still dare to hope that when the World Cup is over, the government will fulfill their promises. But life's experiences have taught them otherwise.
"We have to have hope," said 25-year-old Welcome Mashabane. "You can't stop. Maybe when the World Cup is over and there is more time, they will remember us. I will say they will because I can't say that nothing will come."
Joseph Ndloue owns a mud-walled home. His father sits on a chair with his back against the wall. His wife is cooking on an open fire and four or five children are milling about the home.
He asks for 20 rand ($3) for some cold drinks.
"This is my home," he says proudly. "I think it is just time. (The government) will take time and then maybe they will do what they say they will ... if not ..."
When told it's been more than five years, he shrugs and walks away.
The majestic orange-giraffe girders look down on his house and on the thousands who go the games.
"Welcome to South Africa," they seem to say.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Football comes to Nelspruit, a world away
By Gideon Long
Reuters
Friday, June 18, 2010; 12:02 PM
NELSPRUIT, South Africa (Reuters) - Drive to Nelspruit from Johannesburg, across the grasslands of the high veld and then down through the lush vegetation of the low veld, and the first thing you see as you approach the city is the football stadium.
With its green roof and bright orange roof supports, it looks from a distance like a giant spider with florescent legs, half-hidden in the undergrowth.
But get closer and the orange legs reveal themselves to be 18 steel giraffes, each 48 meters high. Step inside the Mbombela Stadium, and you find the 45,000 seats are painted in bold black and white zebra stripes.
In case you had any doubt, this is Africa.
Nelspruit, the smallest of the 10 World Cup host cities, is marketing itself on this quintessentially African imagery.
If you want a safari with your soccer, this is your place: the world famous Kruger National Park is an hour's drive away and South Africa's only chimpanzee sanctuary is just down the road.
Head north and you soon find yourself in a breathtaking landscape of deep gorges and craggy peaks. "God's Window," "Pilgrim's Rest," "Robbers' Pass" -- the names on the signposts are evocative.
NATURAL SPLENDOUR
But behind the images of natural splendour that Nelspruit is presenting to the world during the World Cup, there lies a murkier reality. The construction of the $140 million stadium was plagued by delays and controversy.
As one of Nelspruit's local newspapers, The Bush Telegraph, reminded its readers this week "there was some nasty goings-on to get the land for the venue."
Two schools had to be relocated and people in the nearby township of Mataffin complain they have yet to be fairly compensated.
"What good is this thing to us?" asked one resident of Mataffin, who identified herself only as Gwenda, as she pointed to the stadium from her garden, just a few hundred meters away but separated from her by metal barriers.
"This football is no use to me."
Whether the stadium will be of use to anyone in this rural corner of South Africa will only become apparent once the World Cup is over.
While one can imagine the stadiums in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town being used for big sporting events and concerts, that is harder to picture in Nelspruit, an agricultural hub of 220,000 people.
Even at the opening World Cup match here, Chile's 1-0 defeat of Honduras, nearly a third of the seats were empty. Soccer's world governing body FIFA will be hoping for an improvement in the three remaining matches.
The next clash promises to be a sell-out, with world champions Italy in town to face New Zealand on Sunday.
After that, Nelspruit hosts two more matches -- Australia against Serbia on June 23 and North Korea against the Ivory Coast on June 25.
Only one team, Chile, have chosen to base themselves here, and it is perhaps in appreciation of that that the locals have warmed to the South Americans.
Plenty of South Africans in this city are sporting the red, white and blue of Chile as well as the green and gold of South Africa.
There are definitely advantages to following football in Nelspruit rather than in South Africa's bigger cities. It is much easier to get around and it feels safer, a major concern for traveling fans.
It is warmer too. While fans in Cape Town and Rustenburg have been huddling together for warmth at recent matches, it is still relatively balmy in this sub-tropical corner of the country.
"Of the three cities I've been to so far, including Cape Town, the atmosphere here is definitely the best," said Willem Schol, a Chilean fan. "We were in the FIFA Fanfest last night and the atmosphere was amazing."
The closed John Mdluli school in Nelspruit with Mbombela Stadium in the background.