On Sunday my girlfriend and I were racing back to Cape Town, hoping to make it in time to watch the final at the Grand Parade. Unfortunately our car broke down about an hour away, and we only made it back to town well after the fan park was closed. I was absolutely fuming. First […]
2010
Posted inLifestyle
Feel it, it’s here…
By Stuart Thembisile Lewis Ah, what a month and what a World Cup! It was a showcase of all things South African which the world will not soon forget. From prophetic octopi to the Hand of God version 2.0, 90 000 vuvuzelas pointed at 11 Mexicans and 49 million hands over hearts of green and gold, from […]
Posted inGeneral
Peace: What is it really?
By Nhlangano Nyembe I was chatting with a colleague of mine recently about the World Cup in South Africa and inevitably, the subject of the high crime rates in South Africa surfaced. He mentioned how he had read media reports about how dangerous South Africa is. I went on to agree with the reports however […]
Posted inGeneral
I will not hide
By Tamlin Wightman I recently read an article on the BBC News about rape and who is to “blame”. I’d heard of a friend or relative being raped but the victims themselves never told me and rarely spoke of the assault, unlike me — I will speak out. I’m looking back at my own reaction […]
Posted inGeneral
Take a bow, South Africa!
Four years ago, Project 2010 was launched with the aim of providing a free flow of information relating to the preparations for the 2010 World Cup. In our mission statement, we declared our confidence that South Africa would host the greatest World Cup in history. Since then, this country has experienced extraordinary highs and lows, […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
Survival tales from the Bulawayo pitch
By Joanne Sage The 2010 Fifa World Cup is in its final stage and the excitement in Southern Africa is still palpable even in Zimbabwe where I work as a nurse for Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on an HIV/Aids treatment project. An excitement that can’t be dampened despite the disappointment of […]
Posted inLifestyle
Once the vuvuzelas have been packed away, will there be any real change?
By Stephen Richards It would appear to be an unusual time to emigrate. The World Cup appears to have been an overwhelming success, the country united, things running relatively smoothly and even prominent corrupt officials are surprisingly being found guilty. An email from a friend painted the picture of a revamped, utopian Durban beachfront. Cape […]
Posted inGeneral
Crime and empowerment
I met a really interesting Syrian football fan in Nature’s Valley in the Western Cape during the World Cup. His way of avoiding the apparently terrifying crime In South Africa was simple — he stayed in the Valley, in a tent to start with, and then moved to a chalet when he realised winter in […]
Posted inGeneral
Xenophobia and the dirty politics of hysteria
The government this week sought to dismiss fears of a looming outbreak in xenophobia. There has been talk since about just before the World Cup that there were rising tensions in squatter communities where large numbers of illegal immigrants live. The talk has been that the violence would break out after the tournament had ended. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Super Sepp and the Chinese solution
Government ministers had to exercise managerial oversight during the World Cup because they, in turn, for the first time were being held accountable. Not by a vacillating president or an endlessly forgiving electorate, but by the mandarins of Fifa and a demanding tourism market.
Posted inGeneral
All’s well that ends well
South Africa 2010 has been a success. It’s official. The world’s second best newspaper (after the Mail & Guardian of course), the Financial Times, said so today. In an editorial. So it must be true. The naysayers and racists were wrong; Africa can do it. Yes we can! Emma Hurd of Sky News, and all […]
Posted inGeneral
Economics is nothing more than interior decorating
By Roger Diamond There are many problems with economics, but how can I take economists or economics seriously when they never look back? There is something really flawed about a field of endeavour where 10 years is considered infinity. Look at almost any economic report and it will compare things with the previous year or […]