In The Eye Of The Storm- Rise of the Second Revolution Against the ANC Government

In The Eye Of The Storm- Rise of the Second Revolution Against the ANC Government Since the announcement by FiFA that the 2010 World Cup Finals between 32 countries will be held in South Africa, the euphoria has ebbed with the events characteristic of South Africa. The poor majority saw themselves enriched,with that announcements, and they had high hopes that better times have come to South Africa, at last. The newly democratically elected ANC(African National Congress), egged the people on about the importance of having the World Cup in South Africa.

Deals were cut with many people in the government bureaucracy and private sectors and entities.

All sorts of promises were heaped upon the unsuspecting poor and sick multitudes regarding the coming World Cup which will result into their financial gain and remuneration. African poor people and white poor people were promised better times and money in their coffers or pockets if you like.

And the ANC and their side-kicks, are at present helping themselves to the wealth and with some self-enrichment schemes.

Preparations have been going on at a slow pace in the first few years whilst the country was hit by a series of strikes in all sectors of private, public works and government civil servants. There is also the issue of official corruption, cronyism, lack of social delivery, clientelism and a burgeoning selfinterested and self-aggrandizing African bourgeoisie, buttressed by a vicious form and practice of extreme nepotism.

Doctors along with health givers and professionals have been on strike; strikes have been witnessed and are still being witnessed like the Escom workers, city sanitation workers, and multiple union strikes and general chaos that border on a storm: the aftermath of the World Cup portends a dark future. The people who are presently building stadiums are going to lose their jobs in droves at the completion of the Cup Finals. South Africa is already hit by unemployment ranging around 40%+.

There is a furor about the cheap labor practices of employers utilizing illegal aliens by paying them less, and thus robbing-off the locals of gainful employment; there is the issue of crime heists, murders and general social disorder, malnutrition and intra-African internecine warfare. In the midst of the preparation for the World Cup in South Africa, there is a broiling cauldron of mass disaffection and discontent about the state of affairs and corruption by the elite and rich against the poor in that rich country.

In The Eye of the World Cup Euphoric Storm Reporting South Africa Daily News - Durban, Natal I have written several Hubs on the historical conditions of South Africa including culture, performing and other arts, politics, history and so on to give the readers a concise picture about life in South Africa from early history to the present-day ANC ruled government. The past or so years the whole country has been fixated on the World Cup which is less than a few hours as of the writing of this Hub. The social conditions have deteriorated vastly, governmental services have slowed to none.

Many shops have been shut-down and many workers laid off. Different types of crimes are committed and spread throughout the South African landscape. There is ample opportunism as it

relates to the present government's officials and their sidekicks: corruption and self aggrandizement have become the order of the day. Breakdown is social cohesion and mores are going bye unnoticed and unaddressed in all sectors of the economy and society.

Tension and uncertainty have a firm grip on people's fears and harsh poverty and malnutrition; housing is being slowly developed; the infrastructure including roads, stadiums, hotels, B&B, private houses has been going up and upgraded. Alongside these developments are the racial killings of Africans from North of South Africa and Whites in the country. Racial bigotry and dangerous vitriol dominates the national diatribe and discourse.

Racism, disrespect of other races has reached fever pitch from all the groups within South Africa who are working hard to superimpose their rhetoric and intimidation to anyone who speaks out against the injustice prevalent within different milieu in Mzantsi(South Africa. There are racial agent-provocateurs of all stripes from all corners roaming the country and spewing and applying racist slurs and racially motivated discourses and murders, intimidation, threats and general verbal abuse and disorder to which there still seems to be no answer nor solution.

The Hubs I have so far written, have covered all these issues from the past to the 90s, and the Y2K era, which seems to be a chaotic continuation of the past with that laissez-faire do-not-give-a-damn and dog-eats-dog attitude. The Gravy Train that has come to characterize the present ruling African elite, has had an effect of suppressing and depressing the poor African masses in South Africa.

This is caused by the Press in South Africa. The further one goes back into South African press history, the clearer it becomes that little has changed. The only thing that has changed is the and shrill retched-up negativity and ideological rhetoric. From the earliest days of the colonial press to present-day Rainbow-nation press and media, newspapers and the those on the Internet in South Africa have been controlled by the past Apartheid regime, in either English, Afrikaans and ownership.

Through them they expound their racist ideology and crude spin onto the news, culture, media and communication philosophy, economic and other salient group interests which are not salubrious the promoting a better and healthy nation. Thus, the press in South Africa has been under pressure from its inception. South Africa's first newspaper was "The South African Commercial, published in the 1830s by two British settlers, Thomas Pringle and John Fairbairn.

They immediately came into conflict with an authoritarian Governor, Lord Charles Somerset, with whom they waged an epic struggle for their right to publish critical material. A robust British Press emerged from that struggle"(Theal, 1927). This issue has for a long time helped to engender a spirit of resilience against the government of the day.

But this has been gradually eroded and weakened by subsequent regimes. They relate to some inherent weaknesses in the South African business community a well as to the oppressiveness of the Apartheid Regime, and the censorship-prone Zuma government.

The More Things Change, The More they Stay The Same Take for instance the news headlines' in the Durban Daily News on the Internet which has thee captions: "School Faces MEC's Probe", wherein the article reports school failing their Matric results in droves; absenteeism of teachers; dysfunctional teachers and schools with problems like tardiness by both teachers and school children; some teachers and students have been accused of alcoholism; the schools are suffering because of unqualified teachers who struggle with the curriculum; lack of

books, computers and poorly paid teachers, along with schools that have no functioning labs and libraries, are some of the obstacles and problems faced by the post Apartheid society ruled by the ANC. (Silindile Maluleka) African students who were writing their Matriculant exams failed in droves, and tis is not a new pattern, but a carry-over of the Apartheid regime and the bugling new ANC-led government's ineptitude and lack of vision and foresight when it comes to remedying the state of African people's education in South Africa. This only increases ignorance and chaos in the lives of the ordinary citizens of South Africa, especially African people and other used to be called "non-whites" Cases of murder include all races in South Africa. Crime is rife amongst the Africans and this issue has been addressed in my other Hubs on South Africa. In this case, a reporter from Durban, presently in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, a Durban Indian grandmother admitted to planning the murder of her daughter-in-law. The 55 year-old Singh pleaded not guilty, despite CCTV footage placing her at the scene of the crime.

Khader, the murdered person, her bloody remains were found in the toilets at the Ganies Corner Flats in Pietermartizburg. She admitted soliciting the help of a man named Simon, who finally committed the ghastly act.(Sherlissa Peters). Reports about murder in South African newspapers are on the front pages and are serious headliners. This is not new, and if one were to peruse through most of the Newspapers from the western Cape, Eastern Cape, and the Gauteng and the rest of South Africa, the pattern of news reportage is generally the same: crime, murder, disinformation, propaganda and plain garbage.

There is also a rise in suicide deaths by teens throughout South Africa. In this case, a Verulam teenager, before leaping to her death asserted: "I am fed-up of Life," moments before she plunged to her death from a three-story building at Mountview Secondary school. Anamika Singh, a 14 year-old grade eight student, of Myrtle place allegedly in full view of her teachers and other students. She said her killing herself was personal, that is before jumping.

Her father, Colonel Ravin Singh, is the head of the Crime Prevention Unit at Point Police Station.

Teenage suicide in South Africa is on the rise. Jimmy Henderson observed: "As early as 2006, the South African Depression and Anxiety Group(SADAG) identified suicide as the third biggest killer of youth. In South Africa, 9 percent of all teen deaths are caused by suicide. Teenagers are especially vulnerable and a high-risk group, with statistics showing that the fastest growing age-group for suicides are young women between the ages of 15-19 years.

According to research by suicide expert and analyst, Prof. Lourens Schlebusch, of the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in Durban, says that "teenage depression could result from a number of factors, including poor school performance, or academic failure(with resulting pressure from parents), interpersonal problems, such as failed relationships or break-up with a partner(boyfriend or girlfriend), and stress in the family due to financial problems, domestic violence or child abuse...

Symptoms included sudden changes in behavior, concentration, school performance or a loss of interest in social activities.

Teens at risk often engage in negative thinking, including thoughts of hurting themselves and speaking about suicide. This kind of talk need to be taken seriously. Parents have to be aware and learn about the warning signs early; to remain involved in the lives of their children and offer support by being willing to listen to their problems." This sounds ideal, but life in the Township is not so linear of World Cup fevered, but barren,d desolate and quiet. In effect, there is a serious break-down of family coherence, unity and values amongst the poor and desolate in South Africa.

Racism is part of the psyche, realpolitik and existential reality of South African. One can look at the example below from a prominent newspapers in South Africa: A Hotel Corporation of a Durban block of flats and its former chairwoman are to place an advertisement in a national newspaper apologizing for any past racist behavior against African people. Katija Minty, who owns a unit in Winkelspruit, had her chairwoman, Mini Horn who said that they should ensure that they did not let the units to too black people many. They placed the add in the farthest corner of the newspaper where it could be seen, and not by all(Daily News, Durban).

This is mild and is part and parcel of the race relations between Africans and Whites in South Africa.

There are still some whites in South Africa who still cling on to the old Apartheid mentality and perceptions whenever they deal with people of African descent in the country. One can see this biased and racist, deviant and misinforming reportage when one reads what they press in South Africa is saying about AIDS and what they are doing. This has been reported in the Daily News in Durban, Natal, South Africa!

In some of its breaking news, the Durban Daily News has reported that, "More than 800 men have been circumcised in Kwa-Zulu Natal to help combat HIV infections. So far 800 men have been circumcised aT the end of April. The premier said that the provincial government had set a target of circumcising 47,055 newborn boy and 186,703 males during 2010/11. Strong evidence from clinical trials in Orange Farm in Gauteng, Kenya and Uganda had demonstrated that circumcised males had close to 60 percent less chance of acquiring HIV during sexual intercourse than uncircumcised men."

In Eshowe, according to premier Mkhize, his department and the United States Government's Presidential Emergency Plan for Aids Relief would hold the first male circumcision camp, for men between the ages of 14 and 25 years. It is interesting that this type of reportage is done and carried by the newspapers in the country whose African inhabitants are dying in droves from the AIDs/HIV disease. This is the type of drivel and insensitive reporting found in the newspapers in South Africa, and yet you still find people reading this drivel and passing it on as facts. In another story, reported in the press in South Africa, the following excerpt was posted: Foreign Journalist staying at a lodge in Magaliesburg fear for their lives after three of the colleagues were robbed at gunpoint. Portuguese photographer Antonio Simoes was robbed of his camera equipment and cash after he was held down at gunpoint by two men while in bed at the Nutbush Homa Lodge. The robbers went into another room, robbing two other journalists, Rui Gustavo Morais from Portugal and Miguel Serrano from Spain.

Morais was robbed of two suitcases containing clothes an other valuables, including a passport, laptop, three cellphones and $400 in cash, this was reported by the Daily News in Durban. Crime takes many forms in south Africa during the World Cup mania, and many people are still going to be hurt and robbed, and others will have the best fun ever.(All over the South African Press).

Crime is happening in South Africa and other parts of the world and misrepresentation of facts are also part and parcel of the propaganda of a press that is owned and controlled by the former apartheid goons and their staff, and business/government alliances. Maybe somethings about the crime are true, but the rest is just garbage which paints the poor and distraught poor peoples of South Africa in a negative light.

Cape Argus - Western Cape

By pursuing on the news bulletin and headlines, one gets the general picture of the state of affairs in South Africa. For instance, the Cape Argus had the following headlining news on its front pages: "Man killed as Gunmen open fire on house." "Three wounded in gang Shooting." "Two in court for Plain Street shooting." "Makgoba intercedes in toilet fight." "Suspect Arrested After four-year-old shot." Man stabbed while looking for cheating lover." Some people feel like such reporting is wrong to write about, but that is what the press in South Africa highlights and makes part of the reading and discourse within the country This is just a smattering of events that are happening as the preparation for the World Cup is winding towards the kick off on the June 11. The society at this point is still in the grip of events that have been careening all the time from the end of Apartheid rule to the beginning of the World Cup and beyond. At the same time, this does not mean that everything is doom and gloom in South Africa.

There has been a lot of infrastructural upgrading, the new "Gorton",(Bullet-looking-like train) from Sandton City to the Airport; the newly introduced bus-transit system called "Ra Vaya," Road upgrading and general environmental manicuring and priming. President Zuma has introduced some form of discipline within the police force, and government administrative offices. In short, a lot of good things have happened because it was necessitated by the coming World Cup. South Africa has a lot of slums dotting the landscape, and most of them were inherited fro the era of Apartheid, and others have mushroomed since the beginning of ANC rule. These slum-dwellers are creating problems and challenge to the ANC. One of the war that is going on is spearheaded by "Abahlali base-Mjondolo" (slum dwellers) and other organization who are urging the ANC to keep its promise and build them houses. So far, the ANC has used an RDP program to build people houses, although the owners are depressed rather than impressed with the quality of the houses that are built by the RDP government program.

Mail and Guardian The tradition of Pringle and Fairbairn is being re-lived replayed again by this interesting Paper. They have set out to find answers as to who cashed in on the Millions spent on the Soccer World up, after M&G's victory in court on Tuesday to access the tender documents. The Gauteng High Court ruled on Tuesday afternoon that the World Cup local organizing committee must provide the M&G with all tender documents pertaining to contracts awarded for the World Cup and the Confederation Cup within 30 days...

This fight began when Danny Jordan(LOC's Chief Executive was refusing to release any tender documents relating to the tournament. Since the court ruling, it means even the names of the to which contract were given and the value of those contracts. The judge said: "Refusing access to these records would enable the organizer of this event to keep from the public eye documents which may disclose evidence of corruption, graft and incompetence in the organization of the World Cup or which my disclose that there has been no such malfeasance"(Verashni Pillay) The M&G reports that Judge Les Morison awarded the costs to the newspaper.

M&G also reports about the first clashes in which several people were injured when the security guards threw bottle at office of security manager at the Moses Mabhida stadium on Monday. It is reported by the M&G that about 500 guards went on a rampage, overturning bins and throwing objects at police after the game between Germany and Australia. The guards are alleged to have said that they were supposed to be paid R1,500 and they received R190. The guards who were

employed by a company called Stallion Security, which received the tender from a local organizing, could not be gotten by M&G for comment.(M&G) The National section of the news of M&G has these headliners: Police break up Cup wages Protest; Tender Ruling a victory for transparency; Cabinet Sets up team to foil xenophobic attacks(does this mean the government is at odds with its own constituency)? - World Cup tenders to be released - Cabinet sets up team to foil xenophobic attacks - Public-sector Unions threaten World Cup strike. There is an Escom strike looming.

Interregnum As of the writing of this Hub, there is heightened euphoria and an air filled and pregnant with expectation and high optimism throughout South Africa. Many people, not all, are involved in one form or another. Musicians, actors, writers, pundits of all stripes, the constant blurting sounds of the 'Vuvuzela', people , in the bitterly cold South Africa of June(Winter Season), are up and about in the Townships; singing, blowing the Vuvuzelas, moving up and down in their imported Europeans and American along with Japanese and other cars; flags fluttering on their car mirrors; children, overly excited and unbridled in their enthusiasm; some people have prepared their houses to receive World Cup Fans.

But some are not seeing anyone come, as yet; the race relations between Africans and Africans(or Whites in general) within South Africa have somewhat thawed; the excitement and happiness displayed by the denizens of the Townships is off-the-hook; Soweto is a mad-house Ghetto/Suburb/Slum; liquor(beer and hot-stuff is flowing) in the Taverns, B&Bs, ordinary and nondescript houses; rabid Township soccer fans are rubbing their palms with heightened and feverpitch glee and expectation to be in a position to see their soccer idols from overseas, LIVE, in their own stadiums and country.

Cape Town City, Downtown Johannesburg, Durban and such like cities throughout South Africa are buzzing with life. Some room in places like the One&Only in Cape Town's waterfront start form R7,000 to R55,000($1,000 to $6,000) for the two-bedroom presidential suite. There's so much opulence it boggles the mind of a township dweller to even wrap their mind around. There are places such as the Bastien Gonzalez with intensive pedicure for R880; daily live Jazz; baby sitting, and one can snack-up of Future Bloody Mary, featuring Biltong-infused vodka; the rooms depend on the season and the room.(M&G) The M&G gives a very interesting description and smells of the Airport and the tropical Climate which is 10 minutes from Umhlanga, with Durban proper about 20 minutes down the M4, and according to Nic Dawes, where roadworks choke the traffic between the sea and the folded sails of the Moses Mabhida stadium.(Nic Dawes) The whole entertainment farce being quoted above is showing how in the midst of plenty, there are suffering and hungry hordes who are not getting anything out of this Gravy Express(which is only a month -- from June 11 to the 11 of July). The M&G is one of the newspapers which play pivotal role in the vanguard of keeping the 'check 'and balances' acute and keeping the window of censorship form totally shutting down When Rugby first came to Orlando Stadium, in the "Kasi"(Short for Lokasie/Location), which part of the lingua-franca of the township slang for the large sprawl which is the Township of Soweto, race

relations have begun to thaw. Although there will be disbelievers, who still fear to go into the mammoth Ghetto/Suburb. Even though most White people who are the inhabitants of South Africa, came to Soweto as 'tourists', they became immersed in the midst of the quasi-superficial alcoholdriven color-blind euphoria that saw drunk Afrikaner men hand in had with the women who sell "pap en vleis"(Mielie cooked serving with meat).

There was a cross-cultural display of affection and boundary-breaking and "de-othering" by both White visitors and the African hosts. It is ironic that it was Rugby, and not soccer, that has made White South Africans to go in droves to Orlando Stadium, in Soweto. This could be interpreted as a subconscious desire, collectively, to move on from the past a stark reminder that South Africans have not. The hosts were extra nice(some think because these were white people), but it was part of the "Ubuntu" culture and beingness of Africans in South Africans to be courteous and kind. The Visitors were surprised that Soweto was a normal place with very normal people. A couple of weeks ago, with the murder of Terreblanche(AWB) leader had put South Africa on the precipice of a race war.

Between the Host(African South Africans/Citizens of Soweto), was still reminiscent of 1995, as if true only happened last month, and it was as if the past 16 years were less significant than most people would like to think. Many Afrikaner visitors, in this case, were still being taught how to say Sawubona (Hello or Hi) by the hosts(Africans), and many were willing to be photographed with White people, without any hitch or negative and ugly race relations rearing its distorted head.

Watching the dynamics of this intra- and interaction between the two races, it is not yet clear as to whether the common ground established by sports fanaticism will readily translate into an authentic sense of equality and respect for one another.

One short note about the pre-Game "international" concert that saw the absence of the local African, Afrikaner and other races of South African musicians, except for Hugh and Lira, in the end looked like a farce, and the locals seem to have been left flabbergasted and discombobulated by the events and the music. It seems most were left freezing in the South African nasty and cold weather with many unknown musicians belting out their songs, to a seemingly lukewarm reception form the crowd, except for the shrill shouts that were there when Hush too over.

Alicia Keys tried to warm up the crowds with apt lyrical songs. But it felt like the concert was a 'dud' to some extend because it did not mix a lot of local and well-known musicians, except for Vusi Mahlasela(the guitarist) who too left the fans wondering as to what was his performance all about.

The Black Jacks sang along with Alicia Key, and the Black Jacks sang a semi-revolutionary song.

But still this begs the question as where were the local musicians, or is it the case of local 'ain't all that'? One left the gig wondering as to where were the locals with their rich music and culture?

People are being abused in many subtle ways than would be clear to the eye and man-in-the-street's understanding. Things seem to have change and sustain the status quo and segregated social order; in reality, it has made it unsustainable.

Synthesis of Synergy The word in the local street of the Township of Soweto and other sectors of civilian life and walk are decrying the fact that they had been "had," they "had been took ," and "bamboozled" by the World cup committee and its wards. This is from the fact that many people are still puzzled by the goingons in their domicile, there are issues of fraud, deceit and plain con-manship by both the government,FIFA, and the FIFA organization, Tourism agencies, theMedia, Spin-weavers and a whole host of predators preying on the local culture, its peoples and the local's empty pockets,

vulnerability and 'state' of shock.

In many other areas of the endeavor/business for the locals, whenever "Big-Money" takes over, Africans in South Africa are auspiciously absent, and in fact,they are relegated to their hovels and other unsavory areas where their need, importance and relevance is shunned and ignored. In most cases, the ANC talks to its voting block as if its addressing children, and ignores their complains.

For instance, the locals cook their own brand of food, but they are going to be limited to one-mile radius from the stadiums, and only sponsored and licensed hawkers will be permitted to hawk their goods. The permit for selling anything during the world cup is exorbitantly prohibitive, especially for the poor and downtrodden masses. When the tourist come around, locals are 'checked' and are not allowed to freely interact with them. The heavily armed police(dubbed 'Rambos' by the locals) are protecting the tourists from the locals, and are vicious towards the citizens of these townships.

The same behavior outlined in the previous paragraph clearly describes the attitude of the government towards it people, whom they will need for the next round of votes. An unscientific poll of the people of Soweto as to what was their take about the world Cup, and the performance of the government turns-out most of them cannot wait for this tournament to end, and maybe they will be able to deal with their reality.

Those asked a few of these question cannot fathom their own positions in the rainbow society that is South Africa today. Unemployment is in the mid and upper forty percentile; poverty is harsh and rife; crime is high and unsustainable; intra- and inter-race animosity tense and ever-present; the old racism of the past lingering in the foreground and background; the general populace in a nutshell are deflated and disappointed that although the world Cup is in their country, they are left out in many key events and decision-making processes that the world sees as 'something' successful.

Most of the African South Africans have a sense that they are playing a second or last role in the affairs concerning them and they are treated by their government as second class citizens with preference for foreigners and other people except them As these events swirl with the days waning toward the beginning and end of the World cup, a Perfect Storm is building given the legitimate grievances made by the citizens of South Africa of all stripes about their treatment and their being neglected all at the same time. Only one-third of the people of the world are sleep at any given moment. The disparities between the most affluent and the poverty-stricken hordes is gapingly obvious.

"The other two-thirds are awake and probably stirring up mischief somewhere."(Dean Rusk) The narrative above seems to aptly describe the opening saying by Dean Rusk. The present ruling government in South Africa seems to think that three-quarters of the population to be asleep, and that they(ANC) belong to the one-quarter which forms the upper echelons of the ruling and moniedclass in south Africa, and the class that makes decisions for the rest.

"Leaders who plan for an African future but consider knowledge of the past irrelevant can only be presumed to be harboring he colonialist view of the African past. It was the wisdom of our fathers to emphasize that each present generation owes obligations and responsibilities to both the ancestors and the generations yet unborn."(Ajayi) To regain our dignity, we must make it impossible for any group(even those who look like us and claim to represent the interest of African people), to ever gain and trample upon the African people.

African people must confront their intentions to do so with a power they can neither trample upon nor ignore.

The Storm is Gathering Since the independence of South Africa from Apartheid,the African elite have proclaimed it their aim to foster the economic and cultural development of the country. We have, after 16 years, begun to see how they are doing. The record of stasis is disappointing enough; still, there are other causes for alarm. There is a strange quisling quality about their actions which forces people to ask whether they are primarily African nationalists, or modern African slavers serving the West just as the slaving elites did centuries ago.

They seem to be victims of voluntary cultural servitude and of an economic insecurity which predispose them to serve the West rather than South Africa. They present and display mental conditioning and habits of consumption that so alarmingly unite their political and economic interests with those of the Western masters, at the expense of the indigenous population(African South Africans and poor Whites).

The received political faith of most of these petite bourgeoisie is liberalism in one form or another.

These African liberals, as agents of an international liberal imperialism, have a special job: to spread the liberal ideology in South Africa, to maintain a black front there for a neocolonial world order run by the West, to administer the neocolonial African territory(South Africa, in this specific case), for the West, and to restore the imperialized status quo if any genuinely African nationalist regime should storm its way into power in South Africa.

To call them neocolonial administrators is not to say that they, like the former white Apartheid colonial administrators, receive direct orders or mandatory guidelines from the masters overseas, with detailed or discretionary instructions on what to do, and when and how to do it. Some do, but the ruling elite in South Africa is in cahoots with the past Apartheid regime.

What they do and project to their people(Africans, in particular), is that they operate in an environment, with a mentality, and under conditioned attitudes and direct advice that all tend to yield policies that primarily serve the past neocolonial Apartheid regime. These policies often are in direct opposition to the genuine interests of the African South African peoples. Conditioned by a proWestern miseducation, they see their class interests as tied to those of their imperial masters, and they readily abandon the interests of their people to protect those of their class and those of their imperial masters.

These two cases illustrate both their quisling mentality and concrete educational conditioning that promote this mentality within the South African context. The African elite in South Africa is "lacking the necessary financial capital (for development, but they are also lacking the minimum revolutionary capital among themselves(the African pot-bellied and overdressed elite), and they are now so remote from the conditions of life from the toiling and downtrodden masses..."(Cisse) The Ruling ANC disregards and disrespects its peoples and is arrogant about the power they possess. They have shunned and dismissed the cries of their African brethren, they are impolite to them, and are now fattened by the Gravy train that they have tuned themselves off their electorate.

In Senghor's words(1962): "The weakness of the Nation is neither the level of the highest state official nor at the level of the peasants of the Bush, nor even with the skilled workers; it is at the level of the lower and intermediary civil servants, many of whom are not yet decolonized, those who are still not aware of the fact that independence requires an increased effort of work, discipline and also politeness..."

The UN declared Apartheid a 'crime against humanity'. It robbed generations of people not only of

their dream, but of their ability to dream. Apartheid was a complex system in which social engineers and planners set out deliberately to cripple the majority of the African population at every possible level, from economic and occupational to educational and emotional.

In pursuit of this goal, with a total and callous disregard for any human rights, they condemned millions of people to a slow death through malnutrition and preventable diseases. To police this system, another section of the population was infused with the poison of racism. This was systematically done through formal schooling that purposely manipulated history. Its aim - was to provide the managerial and supervisory ranks on the one hand and the fodder for the factories, mines and farms on the other.

The ANC took over this structure and turned it into its cash cow and have instead let it deteriorate and in the meanwhile, lining up their pockets with ready and available cash aptly named the "gravy train", which to this day, as the World cup is about to begin, they lick and grab with all what they have, whilst the masses are pushed away and made more poor, sicker, and unheard. Such is life like in South Africa on the Eve of the 2010 World Cup, and the Swirling storm is picking up steam .

And the 12 of July, post World Cup euphoria, when the hangover of the cheap thrills provided by the World Cup Scenario is over and reality sets in... The present ruling elite and their masters are aware that they have a population which vote for them which like the rest of Africa is a large and an unsophisticated population which they think they can exploit, ignore or dismiss. What this present ruling authoritarian state believes is that diversity of views is wasteful and irresponsible; dissent is an annoying nuisance and is often considered to be subversive; and standardization is considered to be logical and sensible goals for mass communications FIFA Mafia or What...

Aldous Huxley in the" Brave New World" observed" "A really efficient totalitarian state is one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their newspaper editors and schoolteachers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced because they love their servitude. To make them love it is the task assigned... to ministries of propaganda, newspaper editors and school teachers[CEOs, managers, sidekicks and some lumpen petty-bourgeoise and lumpen thug elements and cabals -- my addition]."Characterized by a strong an ruthless leader, a hierarchy, a strong code of conduct for its members and, above all, the goal of power and profit. Corrupt police and public officials, attorneys and judicial officers, political leaders and businessmen comprise the protectors."

Andrew Jennings gives a well researched account about FIFA, and he gives a very deep account of how FiFA This is basically what was happening: "FIFA's embedded corruption, organzed to enrich a handful of officials and keep them inperpertual power, has lurched far beyond the sum of its parts.

The unaccountable structure they've instilled is honed to deliver the game to the needs of global Capitalism - with no checks or restraints. Just cheques. ... FIFA' leaders have created an organization that goes out of its way to avoid financial scrutiny ... There's no register of senior officials' interest. FIFA's president, Blatter get away with refusing to reveal his earnings, bonuses, expenses and other perks. We are told that disclosure would be 'against custom and practice in Switzerland'."(Markus Siegler, 2003) The account of how South Africa was manipulated and made a fool by FIFA is a long and involved narrative ... Otherwise Blatter pledged the World Cup helped him win the FIFA presidency in 1998.

But if he kept the promise, was likely going to lose his position in 2002 because Europe would not stand for it. Europe with its eight votes, and Africa with four, was adamant that the World Cup should return to Europe. Blatter was in a quandary as to how was he going to please two continents,

but continued with public pronouncements that South Africa should host 2006. The Europeans wanted and favored Germany, but it was at this time that the political and financial strategy was worked-out in the background.

South Africa had no need to be unduly worried by its rivals for 2010. Libya and Tunisia were not credible and Egypt was not ready. Morocco was bidding hard but they were not going to win, despite the amounts of money spent towards that effort. Astonishingly, south African government minister Essop Pahad raised a taboo subject. 'If we ha to choose between corrupting peopling and losing, let's just lose,' he said. 'We're not going to give any money to anyone under the table.' (Jermaine Craig, 2004) If Nelson Mandela thought he was in for an easier ride this time, he had not been warned of Jack Warner's cloying demand for face time. Mandela and Desmond Tutu - on e really too old to travel, the other ill -- were told bluntly: turn up in Trinidad in April 200 for Warner photo ops -- or forget 2010; Irvin Khoza, quoted in Ndaba Dlamini's "Reonting Long Road to World Cup, 2009, said: "Jack bluntly told us if we wated his vote, we must bring Mandela to the Caribbean(Dlamini, 2010) Its a pity that Nelson Madela has got got caught up in something like this."

The enforced visit to Trinidad by the two Nobel Prize laureates was being stage-managed by Warner to embarrass his political in the ruling People's National Movement (PNM) government. Mandela was 'his', said Warner, to organize as he chose. Blatter got in on the act and rushed to Trinidad to share a platform with the octogenarian, Madiba. The public display at a Trinidad Stadium did not last long. "This is my last trip abroad - I am here to plead," Mandela said. After 15 minute he departed to rest in his room Mandela lasted seen minutes when put up to speak at a private dinner for which Warner charged 100 pounds a seat.

When Mandela and FW de Klerk arrived in Zurich in the dawn, having flown overnight from South Africa for the vote, Warner was lying in wait. He wanted still ore face time because, 'unfortunately, CONCACAF was still undecided'. Shamelessly bringing Mandela to heel -- and more photo-ops Warner concluded with typically immodesty, 'It's a historic occasion for me. In some ways it will decide the future of one country. South Africa won the vote for 2010 and Blatter was stronger than ever.'

Fifa is essentially an anti-democratic organization. Not one of thousands of officials at any level ever makes public criticisms of the hierarchy in their own lands or an annual congresses. Not the poor official of the developing world, nor the 'fat cats' of western Europe. From the 1970s the international sports federations became the battering ram of expanding capitalism. The Brands became mafia commission, the federations the subservient families,each with their own boss.

They delivered highly desirable sport. In return, they were paid. Those who did not take bribes squeak that they are clean. Who pays for their luxury and lifestyles? 'Just as sponsors have the responsibility to preserve the integrity of the sport, so too you have responsibility an accountability to the sponsor.' (John Hunter, 1994) This was a chill warning from Coca-Cola vice president John Hunter at the IOC Centenary Congress in Paris, 1994 as the brands were tightening their grip.

Blatter was hired by Havelange and Dassler in 1970s to implement Coke's plans.

He seems never to have forgotten his benefactors -- or 'partners' as they now have to be called. In September 2009 the entrance to FiFA House w draped with Coca-Cola banners announcing the 2010 publicity campaign. Triumphantly they said, 'Welcome to the world of football'.(Andrew Jennings, 2010) This, the African peoples of South Africa did not know nor anticipate, but as the tournament is coming to an end, the reality is beginning to set in. The poor are more poorer today than they were

before the tournament, and there is dread, misery, shame, poverty, TB, AIDS and other malaise that are debilitating and the people are bearing the full wrath of all their misfortunes.

The Nonqauze Effect and Syndrome The people of South Africa are now tired of being lied to; sick of wading through the ever-rising tide of corporate and political shenanigans; and, people are forever jaded from the countless times they've been burned, duped, fooled, scammed, mugged, heated, misled, and totally screwed over.

This has been done by the Fifa Mafia which as described above, is now operating openly and fully in the World Cup business mugging atmosphere in South Africa.

In April 27 2010, Craig McKune of the Cape Times wrote: "Seventy-Five days from now,when the World Cup is over, the international football federation's officials will be flying way with bags of money, saying: bye Suckers". Andrew Jackson, a British investigative journalist, was banned from Fifa's conferences so that its president, Blatter would not have to answer potentially revealing questions about the organizations.

Jennings who has authored a book on Fifa, Foul! The secret world of Fifa: Bribes, vote-rigging and ticket scandals details how a Swiss marketing company ISL, which previously managed Fifa's marketing and broadcast rights, apparently paid 'industrial scale' bribes to top officials, and Jennings went so far as to state that Blatter himself could have accepted a bribe. Jennings stated in his book "Fifa, Foul! The Secret World of Fifa: Bribes, vote rigging and ticket scandals" that the soccer federation has conflicting interests between it and the public and private sector that fuel 'manipulation thorough the use of influence, political pressure, bribes, fraud and extortion" In this book, Jennings also details "how a Swiss marketing company, ISL, which previously managed Fifa's marketing and broadcast rights, apparently paid 'industrial scale' bribes to top officials.

Jennings said it was "remarkable good luck" that, because of mismanagement of ticketing process, ordinary South Africans will able to afford. "They were never intended to have tickets,n not if they were living on the lower end of the economic scale." He went on to say that South Africans would pay taxes to cover World Cup Expenses for years to come, and at the end of the tournament, that's the ay they're going out through OR Tambo with Bags full of money.

The deals Fifa made with the private and public sectors is one of the biggest risks areas at all levels of public life in South Africa. Mega events like the Fifa 2010 World Cup, provide fertile ground for this. The event is a catalyst for competition -- not only among football stars -- but among the many contenders in the private and public sectors who seek to benefit from multiple state tenders that flow from these highly financed events.

Outcomes are vulnerable to manipulation through the use of influence, political pressure, bribe, fraud and extortion. When one looks at the past week of the World Cup events and reality, one begins to glean on the reality of the monster and mafia corps and economic terrorists that is Fifa, what has been said above is right on the mark. It is not far fetched, on previewing the events of the past week to say that Fifa is operating like the Mafia.

Or do the South African people exonerate these types of deals as if they make good business sense?

It would seem like the jury is still out on this one... The people, were told to fix their houses, spend all their lives savings and get caught-up in debt, some making their house to be collaterals for loans, with a promise that when the sun comes up during the World Cup, all their expenditures will be paid-off from the money brought about by tourism and the soccer fans from all over the world.

As the Sun is going to come up ion the 12 of July, the deafening silence found in Townships like Soweto, will bring back the real reality of reality. ... Remember the Nonqauze Effect and syndrome...? In this case, the people have been sold to the idea that they are going to make money during the World Cup, they will be getting visitors from overseas who were going to rent rooms from them; they were promised change and money of which both were never there and nothing materialized for them this past one month from the 11 June to the 11 July 2010.

The story and photo of Nonqause and Nonkosi can be seen and read in the Hub I published called: "Restoration of African South African Historical Consciousness: Culture, Custom, Traditions and Practices".

The Mugging of Poor Africans and other Poor Minorities As the World Cup progresses into the 5th and 6th day, signs of unrest abound: the stewards who also provide security in the stadiums have gone on strike, and the police are now responsible for security in the World Cup Stadiums. Billions have been spent on building these stadiums, whilst the poor Africans live on R14($2) a day and are facing ore poverty and different diseases, and the clinics lack medicine and doctors are few. The courts in south Africa have been set and these are dealing with law breakers expeditiously -- a rare practice in contemporary South Africa.

There is a news blackout for the Africans in South Africa about events that are happening in south Africa. By tis I mean, if the local press is not carrying it, nor the TV reporting, there is no other way for the poor, who do not have internet or computers in their houses, can get to know about the news that is happening in their country. It is also interesting to note that there was an electrical power cut after Escom threatened with a strike which left 2000 World Cup fans stranded until early Thursday morning. Just like June 16 1976, there is simmering anger amongst the poor Africans in South Africa that they are being taken for granted by their government, yet, this is being ignored and underreported by the media.

Strikes are taking place, discontent raising, government corruption's the norm, people in the Townships are left gaping, high and dry because some have taken out loans to fix their homes for the coming soccer fans, put their houses as collateral; and, as the days of the tournament march-on, the Townships are seeing nobody come to rent rooms from them, and those fans that do, set their own cheap price,and often leave after a day or two.

These might seem like non-issues for those not affected in the manner described above, but there are people who are hurting, and are in serious debt with nowhere to turn to. As we speak, several Townships in Soweto are facing an electricity blackout, which I believe was spread widely throughout the Gauteng region, and they are feeling cold,hungry and with no heater to heat-up their homes.

Those who have borrowed monies to fix their homes for the "unseen" soccer masses, those who booked schools and furniture which they put into the empty classrooms and security guards to guard the premises, are having to sell up all that and pay the securities for the fans that never showed-up, are left wondering what is it they are going to have to do to offset the expenses.

The word in the Street on the street is that the that the glitz and blitz, the 21 century stadiums has brought about the hardest time amongst African South Africans. The locals are flabbergasted, confused, dazed, in the dark, hungry, cold, made ignorant, in serious debt,penniless, ignored and chastised, the poor Africans' image smeared both locally and internationally, on the Internet, international and local media.

Meanwhile, thousand of South Africans marched on Wednesday against the lavish spending on the tournament. M&G reports that Fifa has raked in billions from the World Cup. This is something in the neighborhood of $3.2 Billion (About R24-billion). It is reported, by M&G, that South Africa, which has spent R63 billion on hosting the event, granted Fifa a number of concessions; meaning that the country will lose tens and possibly hundreds of millions of Rands (South African currency) in potential revenue.

The South African Revenue service has been forced to agree to a "tax bubble" around Fifa sites, in which the soccer federation won't pay value-added tax, income tax and custom duties; there is also a supportive financial environment which waives custom duties, taxes and levies on the import and export of goods belonging to Fifa delegations, its commercial affiliates, broadcast rights holders, media and spectators; and unrestricted import and export of all foreign currencies into and from South Africa.

These guarantees also included ownership of all media, marketing and intellectual property -- and that Fifa cannot be sued for claims arising from staging of the tournaments. The government would have to foot a bill exceeding R100-million to pay the police officers that are now providing security after the strike of security workers at the World Cup stadiums. (M&G) This is the nature of economic terrorism, and blatant daylight robbery that has been visited upon the all the poor and tax-paying workers of South Africa. This is what the World Cup has come to mean for the locals, especially the poor ones Fifa as modern pirates and robbers. The South Africans are going to end up with billion dollar stadiums and a huge bill, which in the end, left all poor South Africans more poor than they were before the World Cup. Whilst we are still on the topic, as the World Cup Progresses, Townships like the Soweto are not seeing the horde of Sports fans coming into their houses, the schools set aside for the tourist to live are empty with furniture and beds, wardrobes and the like, with a tight security, guarding empty classrooms(4 days) and there is a talk about some point system in term locating people in those houses or domiciles that are still empty up to now.

But downtown Johannesburg is a beehive of activity, as opposed to the quite and inactive Soweto Townships, except for few festival dotted around the Townships, which now act as gathering spots than anything else. The World Cup action is far away, except within the B&Bs and tavern, but the denizens of the townships are seeing nothing but the usual handful "tourists" and the final analysis, they have been relegated to being spectators of.

The media apparatuses in the Internet and local TV and newspapers have done a very good job distorting the image of the poor Africans, by labeling them as crime-prone, as suffering and dying from AIDS and the whole bit. When one reads the local and national press in South Africa, surf the newspaper of the country on the Web, this reality does not escape one, and in the interim, the detractors of African people, those who attack Africans who raise these points and issues, are derided as ignorant and not knowing what they are talking about.

It is important to repeat some of the issues already raised in the Hub above time and time again, because they "ugly" picture of crime, suicides, not really reported, and the multitudes that are dying going unreported [deliberately]; those many deaths that have risen numerous of the Africans dying from Diabetes, Hypertension, kidney failures, heightened tensions, unmet expectations during this World Cup Finals, pressure and broken promises about the monies to be made during this time.

The South African Media machine, in cahoots with American media moguls and machinery, have

gone into full gear, and usurped the political, economical and social and cultural sense and control

by Africans in South Africa. They have retched churned-up their media machine and spin doctrines and philosophies by blaming the victim(Africans) they have created since 1948, the onset of Apartheid rule.

A lot of soccer fans coming into South Africa have been barraged with Internet warnings about African people in South Africa, and they were advised to carry medicine against Malaria and so forth. This is what the media in South Africa has done and is continuing to do -- destroying and thrashing the image of African people because, come to think of it, Apartheid Media never went defunct or out of circulation nor ceased to exist once the ANC-led government took power. African Media was and is still owned by Big Commercial Media companies within South Africa and the world.

One other fascinating feature of the World Cup are the 56 court system staffed with many young and brilliant prosecutors has been dispensing justice at record pace, than do the local civil and criminal courts. Clare Byrne of the Mail and Guardian characterized it as the South African justice system acts as if it's on steroids.' She goes on to further state: "Faced with a barrage of questioning over security in the run-up to the tournament as persistent as the drone of the Vuvuzela's, the host nation has pulled out all the stops to shake its image of criminal haven."

Apart from deploying 4100 police around stadiums, fan parks hotels and tourist sites, and stocking up on helicopters, water canons and other equipment the government has also set up 56 dedicated World Cup courts across the country. Staffed by dedicated prosecutors working with dedicated teams of detectives, magistrates and 93 interpreters, these districts and regional courts have been sitting late into the night to try cases linked to the tournament -- with impressive results. Justice has never been this quick in south Africa: Two armed men rob three foreign journalists at gunpoint on a Wednesday, police arrest them on the Thursday, and by Friday night they've been tried, convicted and begun serving a 15-year sentence.

In Cape Town, a woman who snatched the bag of a Japanese tourist was arrested, tried and convicted a day later(M&G)Within 4 days of kick-off, police arrested several people and 20 cases had been brought before special courts for offenses including robbery, theft and fraud Amidst tis hullabaloo, the locals are asking as to who is protecting them? They are asking questions as to where is the government to protect them, and allow them to prosper, than be onlookers of a game they are not part of. The media in this case highlights what the media is churning out the in the public mass consuming mass.

This is how parastatals and other government and private enterprises fleece the tax-payers and the poor: In has been established that the troubled electric power producer spent R12,6 million football tickets for the 2010 FiFA World Cup, including some of the priciest tickets available. Ayanda Noah, Eskom's managing director of distribution, told the Mail and Guardian that Escom bought 1,110 tickets during 2009 and 2010. Of these,about 700 were hospitality? Tickets, valued at about R17,000 each.

The remaining 400 for general seating. The executive decision to purchase the tickets was taken in November 2008, only four months before the end of the Financial year that saw Eskom hit its biggest loss of R9,7 billion. Eskom's financial situation led the parastatal asking the World Bank this year for a R27-billion loan to maintain the country's supply of electricity. Noah said its footballtickets initiative would "assist in building public confidence in Eskom and the system". The tickets were given to "customers and stakeholders hat were specifically identified to enhance the networks to key installations".(Ilham, Rawoot, M&G, 2010)

Holders of hospitality tickets enjoy what FiFA describes as "world class" service, with "a main course before or after the match, a half-time snack, pre- and post-match entrees, hors d'oeuvres and dessert buffet, with an open bar with fine beverages".(Noah) Dedicated hostesses, preferential parking and exclusive commemorative gifts are included in the largess bestowed on holders of hospitality tickets, which are the most expensive available for the first two rounds of the tournament.

In the purchasing of tickets, there were only hospitality options available to corporates, and grandstand tickets became available only in 2010, and executives were given tickets for themselves and their partners. And at the writing of this Hub, Eskom is still holding fast and not negotiating with Unions in good-faith -- so the talk have stalled, and the Unions threaten to strike.(M&G) Eric Mulaudzi on June 25, 2010, added the following: Eskom joins a list of government departments that know how to spoil their clients. On the list are: Trade and Industry, Tourism and Science and Technology, have spent R5.7 million on tickets for department employees and so-called stakeholders R5.3 million already spent by the departments of Communication and Public Service and Administration Industrial Development Corporation has spent a further R12 million on World Cup Tickets The SABC is said to have spent R1.04 million on 96 tickets - R10,833 per ticket The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research spent R315,000 on 40 tickets Government Employees Medical Scheme bought 25 tickets for R65,400 as part of its "team-building initiatives for staff". (Ilham Rawoot) This is only the needle hole in the eye of the storm: obscene abuse of money at the expense of the poor -- the mugging of the weakest and wretchedly poor of South Africa keeps going on unabated, and we still have 7 days of the drainage of the coffers of the country -- tax payers are now left holding the bill, this then is the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Development of Underdevelopment The main picture which one sees whenever logs onto this Hub are the brand new stadiums.

Gautrain, Re ya Vaya(We Are Going/Moving) buses and new roads that add to a sense of 'development' that has taken place in South Africa. Looking at townships like Orlando East and others throughout Soweto, there has been renovation of houses that has been and is still taking place as this Hub is developing. This too give a sense of 'development' and some semblance of 'progress' that is taking place within South Africa.

But if one were to look at all the events and reports that are coming out of South Africa which allege that South African authorities had made efforts to hide the homeless population to make areas seem more and more welcoming to tourists, then one will fail to see the 'underdevelopment' that has been wrought upon the poor citizens of South Africa by Apartheid. Take Soweto for instance, the Old Orlando East Soccer Stadium was renovated form the ground up, but not one World Cup match was played in that stadium, except for Rugby, which was never played there.

The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign(AEC) has organized the poor People's World Cup, a

three-week-long competition that mimics the FiFA World Cup, but allows poor South Africans to participate and spectate. Groups from 40 impoverished Cape Town Communities have formed tams to compete in the Poor People's World Cup. At the moment 1000 to 1500 residents from Blikkiesdorp and surrounding communities are preparing themselves to march to Dan Plato to hand over a memorandum. Furthermore, this march is to support all he displaced communities now living in Blikkiesdorp as a result of World Cup regeneration projects.

Many of these residents were promised proper houses before moving to this "concentration camp" with tin can structures -- far away fro the city center and from job opportunities, good education, their social networks, etc., on the 13 of June 2010, he Poor People's World Cup successfully kickedoff their first day of matches at the Avendale soccer fields, net to Athlone stadium in Cape Town.

Early in the Morning, the first minibuses with soccer teams arrived from all over Cape Town to play their first games in this Poor People's tournament. Everybody was exited and the atmosphere was amazing, considering the bad weather forecast.

The Poor People's World Cup was organized because the 'poor' felt left-out and excluded by FIFA World Cup 2010. They see the government has put huge amounts of money in the Greenpoint Stadium and in upgrading Athlone Stadium, but the poor communities cannot benefit from all these investments. The soccer matches will be played in town, and poor people do not have tickets or transport to go there.

Besides this, the FIFA World up has negatively impacted their communities as they were not even allowed to trade near stadiums, fan parks and their tourist areas anymore.

The poor are not only evicted from their trading paces for the World Cup, they are also evicted fro their homes and relocated to the TRA's, such as Bilkkiesdorp, far away from the center and from job opportunities and from the eyes of the tourists.(Landless People's Movement) Protea South(in Soweto) is one of the informal settlements that have not yet benefitted in the last 16 years of democracy. As it stands, people in Protea South are still living without services(water, electricity and toilet). Yesterday the community that live in the bond houses(Bank and government built houses) decided to disconnect the electricity that the people from the informal settlement connected to their tin shacks.

They went around disconnecting and beating people who connected the electricity within their shacks. As a result two people were shot and one died on the spot while he other was rushed to hospital. Maureen Mnisi, who is the leader of LPM(Landless People's Movement) was also attacked at he home, the people from the bond houses tried to burn down her shack. The community from the informal settlement got angry and they decided to fight back.

They burned down the electricity box and threw stones at the people from the bond houses.(Abahlali base Mjondolo) Some people have called to the cessation of the animosities and say that the community should start to identify the enemy that has created the divisions between the poor communities.

They say that they want to make the government which pretends not to know their issues, come to every poor community where people are suffering without basic services. They vow to make the government officials to leave their offices and come to address the issue of electricity in Protea South and other poor communities.(Abahlali base Mjondolo) Jane Roberts says: "It's a dumping place created when they took people from the streets because they don't want them in the city for the World Cup, and now they are living in a concentration camp." Robert, who is 54 added: "It's like the devil runs this place. We have no freedom. The police come at night and beat adults and children. South Africa isn't showing the world what it's doing to its people. It only shows the World Cup." David smith wrote: "Children squint as wind whips the grey sand into their faces. A teenager braves the flies and stench of a leaking outdoor toilet to draw water from a standpipe. He stares vacantly along regimented row of corrugated iron shacks encircled by a tall, concrete fence. No grass or trees grow here."

Campaigners argue that this bleak place in Delft township shows that Africa's first World Cup has become a tool to impress wealthy foreigners at the expense of it own impoverished people. Residents say it is worse than the townships created by the white minority government before the end of racial apartheid in 1994.

"Tin Can Town" Close-up The creation of stadiums and the general infrastructure within and all over South Africa will cost some $3-4 billion and yet a short drive fro the Cape town's Greenpoint Stadium, or Soccer City in Johannesburg, one, as in the case of Cape Town, will come to Blikkiesdoept built in 2008 for an estimated R32 million to provide emergency housing for about 60 who had been illegally occupying buildings.

To visitors, the column after column of on-room sacks, each spray-painted with a designated code number, are disturbingly reminiscent of District 9, [we should at this point recall District Six, during the Apartheid era), last year's hit science film about space aliens forced to live in an informal settlement in Johannesburg. Residents said this week there were about 15,000 people struggling to live in about 3,000 of the wood and iron structures, with more arriving all the time.

City officials claimed these figures were inaccurate but said the site was designed to cater for 1,667 families in total... In some cases families of six or seven people are crammed into living space of three by six meters. They complain that the corrugated walls swelter in summer temperatures of 40C and offer little protection from the zero degrees cold winters. Tuberculosis and HIV are rife.

Babies have been born at Blikkiesdorp and, still unknown to the state, officially exist.

The shacks are lain out in strait lines with little for individual homemaking. Though some resident have tried to build extensions, gardens and informal convenience stores,often protected by barbed wire. Above them loom poles with lighting power and cables that give the residents electricity. But between the shacks there is no paving, only roving dogs, scraps of rubbish and grey sand that swirls in the wind.

There are no shower facilities and the standpipe taps lack bowls, so water tends to leak to the ground and under people's homes. Toilets are found inside grim concrete cubicles so small the locked door presses against the user's knees. Many have leaking roofs and are broken despite treated promises to fix them. Sandy Rossouw, 42, was among the 366 people evicted from Spes Bona

Hostel in the district of Athlone three months ago because a stadium there was to be use for training by soccer's biggest stars, and is ow squeezing with five other family members into one of her shack said:"We were forced to out of our hotel because of the World Cup. The hostel is on the main road to the stadium, only about 200 yards away.We didn't want to move because we're used to it and it's close to everything. But they said if we don't get out, they would move us out with law enforcement." Rossouw said that: "Here the whole place is under starvation. We can't even afford to make a pot of soup for our children. We send them to school without bread. People sell everything to get food and walk three hours to Athlone just to get a loaf of bread. When you do eat, there is sand in your food -- you can feel it on your teeth.

"We were promised in January the toilets would be repaired but they're not. You've got eight families to a toilet and it's unhygienic. It's like a jail, like a concentration camp. If you are not inside at night, the police beat you. A few week ago they pointed an R5 rifle as if they were going to shoot people.

They swore at us: "This isn't "F*****g" Athlone. You should go back to our place. The fanfare around the month-long football tournament is hypocritical when people are going hungry.

"I think they must cancel the World Cup because people are starving. They are renovating buildings in Cape Town for half a billion Rands; why can't they spend that money here? It breaks my heart.

When rich people come to the World Cup, they must come to Blikkiesdorp first to see for themselves how people people interned there are living. It's worse than Apartheid." (D. Smith, Guardian, June 2010) Among those suffering is Fatima Booysen, 40, who has lived in a shack with her husband, Abraham, and two daughters for more than a year. She said: "I can't shop, the rain is coming in, the child is sick, a lot of people have got TB now. It's very cold in winter. When you stand up in the morning, you feel frozen, you can't feel your hands or our feet. The children don't want to go to school. I've got a one-year-old grandchild who is sick today and has gone to hospital."

Residents say that unemployment is high and a lack of postal deliveries or official addresses makes it hard to find work. They also criticize their remote location, which requires them to pay for minibus taxis to the city, and say that children have been killed in accidents on Blikkiesdorp's thoroughfares and when crossing a nearby motor-way. Crime is said to be high, with drug gangs moving into unused shacks, but the police offer little relief.

The people and their communities discussed above, are part of the tens of thousands of traders, home-dwellers who have lost their income and homestead because of "exclusion zones" and gentrification of the tourists areas and making way for mega fast food-soda and beer outlets operating for the world Cup fans.

Many people that the politicians worked hard for the world Cup to be a success for themselves and their friends, and in the end the communities are going to be left with "White Elephant" stadiums that do nothing for the poor communities built around them.(I suggest that readers see my Hub: "The World is a Ghetto: Global Slums - Out of Sight and Out of Mind: Deterioration of the Human Condition" Operation 56 FiFA Courts in 2010 South Africa In this hub, we have already alluded to the 56 FIFA courts that have been created and established to

deal swiftly with anyone besmirching the good name of this football tournament. Marina Hyde has written an article she named "Facing Justice, FiFA Style" in which she states If it feels inevitable that football's world governing body should finally have slapped its branding on justice itself, you are strongly urged to submit.

Keen to dispel its crime-ridden image before the tournament, south Africa agreed to the establishment of 56 World Cup Courts across the country, staffed by more than 1500 dedicated personnel, including magistrates, prosecutors, public defenders and interpreters. Intended to disperse speedy justice, they sit late into the night -- or rather they twiddle their thumbs right into the night, because a mere 25 cases have been heard at the time of writing. As the Mail & Guardian reported, that clocks in at a competitively priced R1,75 million a conviction.

Marina Hyde continues: The most high-profile cases have ben the two Zimbabweans who robbed some foreign journalists on Wednesday, were arrested on the Thursday, and began a fifteen-year jail sentence on Friday; and the Dutch women who wore orange dresses to Soccer City stadium and were charged with "ambush marketing for Bavaria Beer. the most recent is the case of Paris Hilton who was taken to court for smoking Marijuana(Dagga, in the South African parlance).

Typical cases involved a Soweto man who stole two cans of Coke, two ini cans of soda water, and one mini can of lemonade from Soccer City hospitality lounge. H e admitted guilt and paid a fine.

Elsewhere a par of tourists assaulted a local and were fined 15,000 between them, while another Jo'burg resident stole a few bottles of alcohol from Soccer City had his bail opposed and remains in custody; there was a case of a fan who was taken to court for shouting at the British players as to whether their [poor performance was worth the money he paid and traveling such a long distance too].

The women in orange are accused of contravening two sections of this law, namely the part that 'prohibits unauthorized possession of a commercial object inside an "exclusion Zone" and "entering into a designated area while in unauthorized possession of a commercial object".. This law was placed on the South African statute book in 2006 and was called the 2010 FiFA World Cup South Africa Special Measures Act. What is so radical about the legislation, though, is the fact that it makes such activity a criminal rather than civil offense. Not only dies his arguably debase what is to be a crime, but it contravenes rights enshrined in South Africa's Constitution. In march, FIFA successfully pursued a low-cost airline for using pictures of footballs, 'vuvuzelas', and stadiums in its advertising, causing a South African legal expert to voice amazement at the "excesses" of the World Cup legislation, and to lament the choice that government made 'to placate FiFA" at the expense of freedom of expression.'

FIfA praises South Africa for adopting this draconian stance - as well as it might. It is difficult no to conclude the government was either browbeaten by FIFA or displayed an effectively unprincipled willingness to please. It appears that instead of the hassle of launching its own litigation, FIFA would far rather see local law agencies enforce its rapacious will through the criminal courts, at whatever preposterous cost to the host nation(Guardian News and Media, 2010) We had a Sporting Body come and run and change the legislation of a country, wherein they wrote their own law into the laws of the country, and the hosting South African government swallowed all-hook and sink.

Much of what has been happening in the past month has long been prepared for in many ways. What we are seeing are the final licks for those who benefitted immensely from this month's spectacle: the South African 2010 World Cup. Many media outlets have talking heads who elaborate of the games using all the new technological gizmo's available; print news, on the net and newspapers abound

with pictures and moving images of the soccer on the field.

Some tourist write on the Net about their impressions of South Africa - and these vary, too. It is the human interest story,the local motion of the poor scrapping [(uku-Gereza - in Township earthy lingua franca means to hustle)] it out with the rich for the meagre resources, of which the African elite has an upper hand; collaborationist and predatory in its stance.

Andre Gunder Frank States: "As a social scientist, one's world view, if not determined at least influenced by the structure of the society in which one lives. ... liberation among the colonized in the world is likely to be available only among the colonized themselves. ... It is perhaps true as some claim that Che Guevara had been inadequately informed about the reality in which he was working[when he was eventually captured in Bolivia and killed there]..

All the more reason then that the social scientist in Latin America - and the same goes for Africa and Asia, and everywhere -- who is really committed to science and any kind of humane society, should put himself at the service of the liberation movement and engage in the research necessary to this liberation movement prosper. In order to achieve this, the social scientist would have to -- and Frantz Fanon also wrote about this -- follow the example of Che Guevara, who was once asked by a writer what as person as a writer might do for the revolution.

Che Guevara answered: "I used to be a doctor."(A.G. Frank, 1984). The liberation of the poor in South Africa would be their recognizing that the liberatory efforts, this time, in the country, will take all the power and energy they can muster as a people, of all races within South Africa, to crate a free society without all the glitches to development as fleshed-out in this Hub. The one-month colonization of South Africa by FiFA, not only FIFA as an organization that is involved, but beneath the veneer of civility and progress, gluttonous Multi-Corporations are involved in the Fleecing and Leeching of the South African Society and its entire Culture, natural resources and human labor, but maybe not its spirit.

It is no more the case that whites should rejoice at the failures of the African compatriots, but also the fact that the infiltration of an Imperial Culture in a multi-faceted, multi-pronged sucking and suctioning modes, into South Africa, has all Africans, Whites, Coloreds, Indians and so forth, collated into its orb and sphere of influence and control.

2010 Winding Down... Then What?

The people in the Townships, like Soweto and elsewhere are saying that the month of June 11 to July 11 were the months of the worst poverty, desolateness, uncertainty, being ignored by the International tourists and visitors and living in a 'dead Township' left alone to its own to itself, viewing and seeing the World Cup form TV, and nothing else.

It is very important to take note of this fact. It is not like the recent visitors are not seeing opulence and affluence rising on top of abject poverty and underdevelopment. The strike of the Security guards for the stadiums received international and local attention, and it was one of the economical letdowns that have hit many African South Africans and other poor Whites.

Windfall from the tournament has been an empty dream for local fishermen, street traders, souvenir and clothing manufacturers, and aspiring innkeepers, and local Township folks. Many of these folks had guest rooms spruced-up and upgraded, too out loans and made their houses collateral, and depleted their life-savings hoping to get cash from the World Cup, some even turning their homes

into Bed and Breakfast. Thousands of Rand were invested by these homeowners -- meaning, they paid fees for official accommodation lists, and in the past to or three years, courses were given on how to deal with the coming World Cup from many levels and different aspects. All this was done for naught.

David Crary of the Associated Press(A.P.) Reports: "John Mafokane's two guest rooms are cheerful, spotless -- and unoccupied, a daunting blow to the longtime Soweto resident who had hoped to cash in on the World Cup by converting his home into a Bed-and-Breakfast(B&B. Mafokane said he invested about $16,000 on the project, but ran into miscommunication and confusion while trying in vain to get the place included on official accommodation lists.

The result, he said, "Is highly disappointing -- no bookings for the tournament even though the Soccer Stadium is a short walk or drive away . We thought this would be well-organized and some promises were not kept." On nearby Vilakazi Street, a hub of Soweto tourism, Mzwandile Khoba had a similar tale -- investing about R$,600 to renovate two guest rooms, signing with an agency that promised to find guests, but ending with no bookings." We do not hear from them," Mzwandile said.

"Things are not turning out as we hoped."

The South African Tourism Council was the one that allowed the reviews of these tenements, and most were found to be onerous and the guesthouses were not listed. But Fifa is making $3.2 billion in income during its four year run up-up to the 010 event, from sponsors, Licensing and TV rights.

South African rental-car companies are solidly booked. Strategically located pubs are booming Various producers of Vuvuzelas are making bundle.

Local unions lost jobs and contracts for World Cup merchandize went to manufacturers abroad: even the toy versions of the tournament mascot,"Zakumi". Many traders had hoped for a bonanza catering to World Cup spectators, but are being barred from FIFA-enforced "Exclusion Zones"around the stadiums -- which are, for the most part, reserved for official sponsors like McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Budweiser.

In some zones the "exclusion Zones" were open to local traders -- but the imposition of exorbitant operating fees were too high for many of them. These kind of announcements are disingenuous, because poor vendors can't take those opportunities. Africans in south Africa, along with other poor minorities of other races are very desperate, and they know that they are going up against the 'national mood' and a very tough police force.

They risk being depicted as the spoilsports of the World Cup because they have had it up to here.

Many other South Africans hired for World Cup Jobs - in effect, they were hired as freelance, temporary workers than having a formal contract . The spread of a system of casualization has made workers very vulnerable(David Crary, AP)It is sad that the visitors 9(fans) and tourists decided to say out of Soweto, if only they knew what they missed.

What has been described above as happening to poor Africans and Whites/Indians and Coloreds is all over the country and not in isolated instances. The poor people are angry and that may come to haunt the ruling elite in the very near future. Strikes are looming and there is a furious milieu which feels like it had been left out of the gravy train, and now the world Cup has again eluded them. And they are left now more poor than before the tournament.

Meanwhile, the locals are being told that "Xenophobia" will not be tolerated, and through hear-say, the locals are accused of threatening Africans from the North with violence after the World Cup.

The Rainbow Nation At the End of the Rainbow: 11 July 2010 Mark Gevisser wrote an interesting article he titled "We did it, we showed the World" wherein he talks about the month old World Cup. He firstly covers the area from 1994, when Madiba was inaugurated as the first African president in South Africa's history. He also talks about the win but loss of South Africa in Bloemfontein. The way he sees it, he says that:"First because Bafana Bafana played at last with optimism, unity and occasional brilliance; as good a recipe as any for a nascent national identity.

Second, because we proved to a skeptical world -- and thus ourselves -- that we could host a World Cup, a hopeful corrective against the negativity that keeps tourist and investment away. Third, because if our government could deliver the world's biggest mega-sporting event so efficiently, surely it could tackle South Africa's historical and economic ills with similar resolve. But "we won" most of all, because we could finally say, "We".

He observes that at the time when the killing of Terreblanche was killed and the racial tension were at their highest, this,according to Gevisser,amidst the 'buzz of a million Vuvuzelas,' the gunfire, the helicopters chasing stolen cars, the aggressive minibus taxis, all overrode the habitual sounds of urban anxiety.

Gevisser also makes some importance and very poignant comments about the effects and affects of the world Cup on the nation South Africa. He talks about the singing of the National Anthem, and that whites still find it a little hard to sing Nkosi Sikelel'iAfrika, whilst Africans sing 'Die Stem' with unfettered delight. He goes on to give a delightful "Melting Pot" scene in the stadium as follows: "I was with a group of friends. To our left sat a stolid middle-aged couple in the Mad Hatter attire that has become part of the South African football fan's kit. In front was a large Indian Family which had managed to smuggle 'samosas' past the Fifa branding police; the granny blew her Vuvuzela with sincere devotion, and became involved in a hilarious call and response with White teenagers sitting next to her.

"Behind us were three young Black men who really knew their football and were enraged at opportunities the Bafana Bafana missed. "Don't worry, man," the older Afrikaner next to them responded at the final whistle, "We did it. We showed the world!" And then he unleashed the war cry which reminded us we're actually in one of South Africa's most hallowed rugby stadiums, deep in the Afrikaner Heartland: "Vrystaaaaaaat!" [Free State!]

"It wasn't a war, or a giant self-conscious love-in. It was just a big, happy, national picnic."(Gevisser) Unemployment, according to Pravin Jordan, as quoted by Gevisser in his article stated that: "The country's recovery from the recession was 'tenuous', and employment problems affects the country's recovery from the recession, and employment in particular would be "slow to recover".

"This has serious run-on effects, in the way the employment problem affects the country's crime epidemic, tax base and state corruption -- because the state is so often the only source of income,either through social service, or through jobs and contracts."

Towns like Ventersburg have all but collapsed a recent study found that one in three small towns had no technical or engineering expertise whatsoever. On this very World Cup finals weekend, the state electricity utility has threatened to cut electricity to 11 Free State municipalities, including Bloemfontein, because of non-payment for services.

Even wealthy Johannesburg is in financial trouble -- no at least because of the R3.4 billion spent on Soccer City (part of a larger state tag of R34-billion) The outcome of the building of stadium does not endow South Africa with, because, according to the author of the article discussed above: "The World Cup is a bit like wartime economy: the skills acquired and the capital invested might indeed boost the economy, but they are not necessarily transferable to peacetime economy.

The Extra 40,00 policemen employed in time for the tournament, might have managed the crowds brilliantly, but they will have no effect on South Africa's crime rate if the country's collapsed detective services are not repaired. Antony Altbeker, South African policy analyst, notes that, 'the country delivered faultless stadiums, it failed to provide a winning team -- despite huge investment in Bafana Bafana: 'The social engineering required to build a good soccer team is very different from the actual engineering required to build a stadium. To build is easy; to change society is very hard.'

(Gevisser, 2010) South Africans got a peek as to how the Rainbow nation they envisioned in 1994 could be like, and the new and different ways to it are done better with the actual social interaction of the different races within South Africa - and in this case, assisted by the visiting international soccer fans and international tourists and would-be investors, -- along with that goes the change in perception about South Africa all over the world, which has become an added feature in social engineering and cohesion,which is a much needed reality in South Africa.

Responses of The Denizens: Just like before the World Cup, views about anything concerning South Africa by South Africans has been diverse and discordant. Here are a few sampling of the comments Mark Gevisser received from the South African Reading public: Witbooi says: "Great Article. I have recently returned from a three week road trip from Durban to Cape, and what struck me, as I cheered on whichever adopted team was playing on the day, and wallowed in the realized bliss of this country's true potential, was the fact that South Africa was reclaiming the Streets. A country does not get to know its fellow compatriots from behind the high fences and veil of fear so pervasive before the World Cup. "What happened was the people were encouraged to leave their comfort zones and to witness first hand their fellow South Africans out in the streets. This was thanks to the Police and the great job they did in making us feel secure, no matter what the time of day or night. One way to ensure that this legacy remains is therefore to continue re-claiming the streets from the thugs and bullies who roamed these areas before, because it is in the streets that the future South Africa will evolve, as this is where the true melting pot and rainbow nation can be experienced."

Eric West writes: "Maybe tackling inequality, service delivery , etc., does not produce the same kickbacks as the World Cup. Michel Sturgeon states: When newspapers display photos of children of all races playing together, I will be more convinced that articles like this are sincere.

Abdullah Adamjee says: "... Most of the International articles that I have read are unanimous in that the people of this country, are unique and are a lesson to all other nations. High praise indeed, especially coming from those who, prior to the World Cup, were so negative about our ability to host this event successfully. We have proven it to ourselves and the world that, "YES WE CAN!" Now, if we can keep this momentum up, then the possibilities are endless!

Atlas Reader observes: You can make the poor rich by making the rich poor, but it sure eliminates the inequality. Everyone can be equally wretched Rod Baker posits: "I beg to differ, I am sure we SILL deliver, but we have not delivered... yet. The World Cup Ends tomorrow, and only then when the last whistle has ben blown, and the last team has left, and the last fan from overseas has left and all has been well -- apart from Durban's cock-up -only then can we say without fear or too much contradiction ... We HAVE delivered. 24 hours guys."

Rob Martin cautions:"I think it would be wise for all concerned to take a step back from the World Cup generated euphoria and consider a few things. We all know that news is an important top seller and I am sure that in a few months time the front pages of the major services will be more concerned with the London Olympics and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

When that happens and we are yesterday's news, it will be then that it will be up to the common South African citizen to make sure all the good feelings and feel-good factor currently being experienced carry on. That will be the true test... It is something that we will all have to work on and I am pretty sure it can be done. When it comes organizing such a big event we must also not lose sight of the fact that all this was done as a purely commercial enterprise.

The stadiums weren't built for us for instance and this is proven, to use but one example, by the fact that citizens of Durban had to wait many, many years for n upgrade to their beachfront to be done...

Phiyani Lubanyana wonders: "Are we making the requisite progress to create a non-racial society: to build a non-sexist country; to heal the divisions of the past; to achieve the peaceful coexistence of all our people; to create development opportunities for all South Africans, irrespective of color, race, class, belief or sex; and, to improve the quality of life for all citizens?

We will have to answer honestly whether our actions have been about and are based in the recognition of the injustices of the past, and whether our actions have genuinely sought to promote the integrated Constitutional objectives of: National Unity; the well being of all South Africans; peace and reconciliation between the people of South Africa.

Watching the first Rugby match in Soweto was the Guinness Book Record in the making. But we need to be honest with ourselves : sporting events cannot heal the wounds that were done for nearly 400 ears by white Supremacy. We can talk to each other, wear Bafana Bafana T-shirts, but at the en of the day, the poor are still poorer and are mainly Africans and the rich are continuing to be betteroff, and mainly Whites.

The Moxster concurs: "The 2010 World Cup has been one huge advertisement. Not only to foreign countries, but ,ore importantly to SA's citizens. To foreign countries: South Africa is not the begging bowl that it is made out to be, by some doomsayers. There is huge potential here. We can make it on our own, and we can make it even better with your help.

"To SA citizens" The World Cup has shown that, if and when required, we as a nation, can unite under one Umbrella, the South African Flag. The easy part about this is that we don't need a world cup to unite us as brothers and sisters. We need to embrace each other, respect each other's differences.We are different, but when it comes to matters of national interest, we can be one."

White Mamba opines differently: I beg to differ. It is only a euphoric pipe dream. One cannot erase the still existing, vast divisions and differences amongst South Africans with a month of soccer including the dedicated endeavors of the ANC to side line whites. Nation building? That could be

regarded as naĂŻve. The 20101 SWC has been an *all black* event from day one. Whites have been cleverly sideline. [but I like to know who in fact did all the basic and complicated work behind the scenes and made everything go smoothly? Just wondering] 1. LOC committee. All black except for a few White ANC cadres and sympathizers 2. Opening ceremony. All black bands with one or two whiteys in the background 3. All Bafana matches only black players. NOT A SINGLE whitey[Booth?]

4Only Black children accompany players on the field [till complaint was lodged] 5. Shakira to honor [only] African women at the closing ceremony 6. Artists at closing ceremony. All black? Let us wait and see 7. Who secured the thousands of contracts associated with a venue like the SWC? Another Question: "Why were some of the stadia only named after Blacks? Why were no Indian and Colored *heroes* honored? This country is an ONLY BLACK COUNTRY, TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT...

Nation building? Black nation, yes. Whites not part thereof."

Tag Pillay analyses it this way: "The South African National team featured a Brazilian coach. This is ironic because Brazil has 500 years of Invisible Apartheid and racism is understood to be eternal and forever in Brazil as well as South America and Mexico. Apartheid lasted about 60 years in SA, and left the Africans with a developed nation(?!) , a contribution."

Ian Shaw responds: "White Mamba, would you like where whites have participated in the World Cup? White engineers(and white owned companies) designed the stadia; the Gautrain and all infrastructure improvements. Even if no credit was given, whites are still proud about their contributions."

Martin Radebe concludes: I don't care about the politics many of us want to lure us into focusing on, black or white. Naming of the fields? I totally don't care. All I know is that it was nice seeing backs and whites enjoying together even if it lasted for just a month.I would do anything just to relieve that moment for even just a day. I salute my African people, we are South African, our identity is not defined by our skins but love and a sense of belonging to this continent. For all anti-black and antiwhite or pro-black or pro-white, I hope God will help you realize this one day.

Peter Win clarifies: "White Mamaba," Yes there are huge politically based schisms. Yes, there are huge inequalities and racial actions. But, despite this, the world Cup showed that people -- as opposed to self-seeking politicians -- are just people, that SA has a heart that can rise above the criminal action of our political "masters". The heart of South Africa is sound. The mind that guides us is flawed.

Duncan McGregor says: "Headline of this article: 'We did it, we showed the world'. Well, I suppose we did, and there are some really impressive works as evidence, no terrible foul ups and security was actually quite good. Well done indeed. However,I am disappointed at this self-congratulation because it is far more important to show the world we can run a country, day to day, year to year.

Some of the contributors above are on that: but what about the millions of poor who need to be uplifted? Time to get back to real work of making life better for those who need it most .

This is in the nutshell what the article has been about, the business of taking care of the poor and improving the quality of life for all South Africans, that's about the long and short of it. The world cup is all , but over, the beginning begins now. If the motley crew of voices highlighted above are anything to go by, there's still a lot that needs to be done in order to avert the coming social tsunami. The article attempts to cover all these brewing and looming issues in South Africa over the month long World Cup. Today's mass media of communications in South Africa, whether independent or closely identified with the government, are business enterprises that seek wider audiences, selling advertising, and trying to make profits for their proprietors or stockholders, and the extended and laissez faire attitude in granting Fifa all the concessions listed above. Sensationalism changes sales, readership, circulation of newspapers and other publications have important political implications since these factors often determine what kind of media will prosper in authoritarian South Africa, and how this media will inform and help shape the nation.

In the meantime, there is no denying that beneath the surface, poor people are seething, and some are beginning to vow to get even. It is easy, anyone can go into the Townships and randomly ask the citizens about their impressions about the World Cup, one is going to find that, contrary to the fervor that is characterizing the "spirit" of the Tournament, there is a feeling of sadness and bad times for the poor, who are not in the loop in terms of the monies being made during the World Cup. The events as discussed in this Hub, leads one to conclude that they are the material which facilitate for a Storm that is looming at the end of the soccer tournament in South Africa. Howard Zinn observed that: "Nations are not communities and never have been. The history of any country (let alone "the international community"), presented as the history of a family, conceals fierce conflicts of interests." One can read the Hub above and see the World Cup as a case in point. It remains to be seen what will happen after the World Cup is 'Over'.

The Brewing of the Perfect Storm After the hoopla about the World Cup and its success, South Africa is on the brink of a catastrophe as forecasted by this Hub. The end question was what was going to happen after the World Cup finishes? There are more intense strikes, with all union now gathering their forces for the end-month of August(the World Cup ended on July 11); since after the world Cup, the ANC government has been besieged by strikes, schools are closed because teachers are on strike; government hospitals are not functioning, and patients have to be referred to private hospitals, who too are underpaying their staff.

The government is paying lip service to the strikers demands; the unions are bent of downing their tools as we approach September; anarchy is on the rise so is local crime and tension; those who are replacing the strikers have to be escorted by the army, and others are leaving because of intimidation by the strikers; outside the hospital grounds, and were growing, under the watchful eye of the army and police, and the protesters were making it impossible for volunteers to leave the premises; patients who were well enough are discharged and only those in critical condition are left behind.

food for those patients and any remaining staff is prepared and supplied by an outside donor; the army, which has ben assisting with medical needs at the hospital, took over cleaning duties on Wednesday; the volunteers are angry at strikers, because the volunteers themselves are looking for jobs; scabbing is deepening frustrations and anger among the workers as denounced by Cosatu; Health minsters and their national and local spoke-people are appealing on the radio, newspapers and TV for volunteers to come and help with the crisis, and only a few are turning up...

Julius Malema, ANC Youth League President hollered: "You must be careful, you'll be on the streets if you don't respect the power of the masses. We are the future and we want to inherit an ANC that is intact." And to President he admonished: "You are just starting, Baba(Zuma). An if you(Meaning the ANC leadership) you are accounting somewhere else, there is a problem. In the meantime, Zuma accused the striking workers of abandoning the sick at hospitals and said he expected a deal to be reached soon to end the labor action by about R1.3 million."

Zuma decried the strike admonishing: "The abandonment of patients,including babies in incubators, as well as school children, is difficult to comprehend except, no matter how sympathetic one is to the needs of the workers. We are confident that negotiatiors on both sides will find a solution soon, and help the country to get out of this unpleasant situation as quickly as possible." (M&G) The strike is expected to intensify this week after the Congress of South African Trade Unions Threatened to join the action and grind key industries to a temporary halt in Africa's largest economy, including mining. An expanded strike would add to worries about prospects for growth after the economy slowed more than expected in the second quarter if 2010 as mining contracted and manufacturing expanded at a slower pace.

Zuma, who spent most his time visiting major trade and investment partner China, has not made many comments about the strike that has posed one of the most serious domestic problems he has faced since taking office about a year ago. The government has said it cannot afford the state's workers demands of an 8.6 wage rise, more than double the inflation rate, and R1000 a month as a housing allowance. It has offered 7% and R700.

Any agreement to end the dispute is likely to swell state spending by about 2% forcing the government to find new funds just as it tries to bring down a deficit totaling .7 of gross domestic product. The African National Congress, which is in power, is under pressure to appease its

governing partner and long-time ally in organized labor, which last week threatened to break-up the partnership that has delivered large blocs of votes to the ANC. The Workers Struggle According to M$G reportage, There have been no new talks between public service union and the government, The Congress of South African Trade Unions. "We have not had a meeting and we are trying trying to track down the source of the rumors about some secret meetings on Thursday night between Richard Baloyi, the Public Service Administrator and the unions. I can speak on behalf of Cosatu that there was no meeting," Mugwena Maluleka spokesperson for Cosatu said. Maluleka when asked if any meetings had been arranged, further stated that: "We are hoping to hear from the government. Our Memoranda that we presented at marches yesterday[Thursday] gave the government 24 hours to respond. We are ready to talk."(M&G) Independent Labor Caucus (ILC) spokesperson said that both the ILC and Cosatu have requested a meeting with the minister of public service and administration, and that, "It is time he takes leadership and time that he take responsibility". Klopper warned: "If they want to picket [meaning the members inessential services to be careful] when participating in any type of industrial action, they must be extremely cautious.

"They would rather do it while on leave. Our advice has been to refrain from striking indefinitely. If they participate, they must not make themselves guilty of intimidation and violence. Workers are supposed to be at work and what we are saying is that it is time to end the dispute. It is time to do the right thing." About 1.3-million public servants both from Cosatu and ILC, entered the tenth day of striking on Friday to push for an 8.6% salary increase and R1000 monthly housing allowance Later, on Friday, Cosatu provincial secretary, Dumisani Dakile said Cosatu affiliates intended on embarking on a strike in solidarity with public servants on Thursday ad would bring Gauteng's economy "to a standstill". He said the striking unions will target department of finance, the SA Reserve Bank, the Department of Housing, Business Unity SA and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and he believes that the government should take full responsibility for this state of affairs.

Health institutions have been heavily affected due to the strike and demonstrated serious need for the introduction of national health insurance."(M&G) Cosatu noted the deaths in hospitals reported by hospital chief executive officers and government officials and said, "They report these deaths as if before the strikes there has never been people dying in hospitals. Dakile called the deaths 'daily occurrences' and demanded the provincial minister of health to provide the number of deaths that took place in hospitals during 2008 and 2009 because no strike took place during this period.

Dakile advises that: "The government should desist from grandstanding by visiting hospitals and becoming 'scab' labor as such does not help the situation." Cosatu said that, "the collapse of the education system and the postponement of preliminary exams would cause matric result in 2010 to be worse than those of 2009. The 'marks' would be made worse due to the fact that schools closed for a month to "satisfy the imperialist agenda." Cosatu announced that the police and prisons Civil Rights Union(Popcru) has issued a notice for its members to participate in the strike.

"Dakile has also pointed out on the rise of state brutality that has taken place within the SAPS and Metro Police in what he called "militarization of the police force. Is is not strange that the more things change, they more they stay the same. Anyway, Dakile reiterated that the unions wanted

issues of health, education, unemployment, corruption and inequality to remain on the agenda beyond the strike."(M&G) The situation within South Africa is in a state of flux. The government, seemingly inebriated by power, are stubbornly clinging to the past sixteen years of super gravy train, and do not see that they might end up in the streets if these strikes and other civil unrest issues persist. The clouds in the country's horizon have been dark now for months, and are pregnant with strikes and skirmishes.

Close to about 566 people have been killed in police custody, and the Townships of Soweto and elsewhere are bursting at them, seem with desperation and poverty... and that this blackness descending on a coterie of rulers who take their electorate for granted.

The Partial History of ANC's Perception of Democracy The Case of the Electrical Demonstrations and Wars According to Trevor Ngwenya. "The South African economy is designed to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, and electricity is no exception to this rule. Indeed, electricity is central to the historical development of South African Capitalism. The tragedy is that the ANC government of national liberation has failed to significantly transform the social order an economic structure of exploitation that it inherited.

"To the contrary, it embraced neoliberal capitalist policies that entrench this structure and attack the working class and the poor. It is the dream of liberation indeed being trampled upon on the altar of profit by the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, members of the ANC-SACP, COSATU Tripartite Alliance have openly criticized the ANC government's top leadership for allowing the first decade of democracy to benefit the capitalist "Class project" at the expense of the working class and the poor.

"It is the ANC's neoliberal policies of GEAR and privatization that tell Eskom - obey only one law, the law of profit. Millions of people live without electricity, but the electricity is there. Eskom closed down power stations (They closed the Orland Power Station and made it a tourist museum - My addition), instead of building new ones. Eskom retrenched 30,000 workers, half its workforce, instead of training and retraining them. President Mbeki apologized to the nation and blamed unprecedented growth for the for the crisis"(Ngwenya).

Ngwenya proceeds to add: "There is a political and an energy crisis in South Africa, From the point of view of many ordinary people, Eskom and the government have failed the people. The energy crisis is happening against the backdrop of community uprisings(Orlando East experiencing disturbances, burning of tires, and arrest of most elderly women on the 24 of November 2010), student boycotts, and other forms of mass action that proliferate in the country indicating dissatisfaction and anger at the ANC government's slow pace of "delivery" of a better life.

"With their food rotting in the fridge, workers losing their jobs, students having to study with candles and chaos frighteningly becoming the norm, there is a growing sense of uncertainty and hardship in the country." Yet, the same ANC-led government was at its best when delivering services for the FIFA cronies' whims and hews.

"These blackouts have hit the working class and the poor the hardest. While the rich can buy generators and eat at restaurants, the poor must live in darkness without food because there is no electricity to cook. Meanwhile, Eskom bosses pay themselves big salaries and undeserved bonuses.

Eskom is demanding a 53% tariff increase barely 3 months after causing an uproar when it applied

for an 18% increase and only managed to get away with 14%.

"About 85% of the country's electricity is used by big business, that is, most of the electricity used is used to make profits. Big business pays about 8 cents per kilowatt-hour while domestic users pay about 26 cents. The abuse of the country's electricity by the capitalists can be seen in the long-term deals Eskom makes with aluminum smelter bosses that get them huge amounts of electricity for as little as 3 cents per unit. It is the workers and the poor who pay for the capitalist crisis. Banks can go bust and companies fold, but it is ordinary people who pay with their jobs and lost savings while the directors get bail-outs from the government (Ngwenya) On November, dark clouds crept into Orlando East where the people went on a rampage. A series of meetings had been called-for by the Soweto Electric Crisis Committee, which is a community organization that was formed in 2000 to fight against Eskom's cutting the electricity supple to 20,000 houses per month in Soweto as part of its cost recovery program. Eskom was under instruction from the Minister of Public Enterprises, Jeff Radebe, who wanted to make Eskom attractive to investors by dangling profits and making sure everyone pays for electricity.

The SECC operated the Operation Khanyisa[Operation Lights On], whereby if Eskom cut off a resident, the SECC would re-connect it. The campaign gained momentum forcing Radebe to make a deal with residents that involved a moratorium on cut-offs, and scrapping of residents' debts amounting to over a billion Rands. Some local Soweto civic organizations have already joined hands with SECC to form the Coalition Against the Electricity Crisis in South Africa.

It's aim is to fight for solutions that will benefit the working class and the poor. The Coalition, during the dates from the 20 of November to date have backed up their words with actions. Some actions are spontaneous and lead to thugs taking over the chaos and anarchy. They are saying no to 53% tariff increase, and oppose the capitalist mode of production and existence, thus their slogan, "Electrical and political power to the working class and the poor." (Ngwenya) Escom's Secret Slush Fund The ANC's incompetent decision-making and actions on the basis of political slogans, populist emotions and ad-hoc impulses have plunged South Africa in to a catastrophic social malaise and national miasma. The government has what could be termed "non-core" state assets, worth considerably more than R2-billion, although the amount could be substantially more," writes Lynley Donnelly. She continues thus, "These include a 13.95% stake in Vodacom, which, based on the company's market capitalization,is worth about about R15-billion. Selling this off would provide 75% of the funds needed for Eskom's equity injection.

The state also owns 39.8% stake in Telkom, valued at about R7-billion, based on Telkom's market cap. But the company,though listed, is more than 50% owned by the government due to the stake of the public Investment Corporation and PIC-relate entities. As such, any sale would need the buy-in of a number of state actors. Cash also lurks in the balance sheets of state-owned entities such as the Central Energy Fund, which has cash equivalents of about R15-billion. But that is earmarked for the company's own strategic plans, including energy exploration (Donnelly) Eskom generates about 95% o electricity in South Africa and about 45% in Africa(Of which Mbeki's Company is deeply involved). About 88% of South Africa's electricity is generated in coal-rd power stations. Koeberg, a large nuclear station near Cape Town, provides about 6.5% of capacity. A further 2.3% is provided by hydroelectric and pumped storage schemes. South Africa supplies twothirds of Africa's electricity and is one of the cheapest electricity producer in the world. In South

Africa there are few, if any, new hydro sites that could be developed to deliver significant amounts of power, owing to water scarcity About 46.5% of South Africa's coal mining is conducted underground and about 53.5% is produced by opencast methods. The coal mining industry is highly concentrated, with five companies, namely Anglo Coal, Sasol Mining, Exro Coal, Kumba Coal and Xstrata Coal accounting for 90% of salable coal production. The eight largest mines account for 61% of the output. South African coal for local electricity production is among the cheapest in the world.

The benefaction of coal, particularly for export, results in more than 65 million ton(mt) of coal discards being produced annually (South African Online). It is also important to view all these issues that took place throughout 2010 that some big is afoot. It is time for the ANC to take notice that the Gravy train has stopped and its time for accounting, it is time for Aluta Kontinua, The present regime and system is unsustainable.

The Coming African Revolution Against the ANC The Ambers of the Coming Revolts As of writing of this part of this article, a year has passed since the World Cup took South Africa by storm. There have been multiple worker's strikes that have rocked the country and its s inhabitants.

The ANC just had the Provincial elections, and even after the votes were counted, which showed the negative decline on the voter turn-out, the ANC-led government is still carrying on with its shenanigans.

The same old complaints that the local Africans who lived in the pre-Apartheid and Apartheid era and still presently living in the same ghettoes under the ANC-led government, are beginning to say, "Kudlalwa ngathi lapaha"(We are being used and abused here; We're being taken for granted) more and more often than not. The City Press featured this article about the aftermath of the 2011 Provincial elections: Zuma "Not To Blame" for drop iIn Support : President Zuma cannot be held personally responsible for the ANC's drop in support in municipal elections last week, a party spokesperson said today: There's been a lot said in the weekend media... the Sunday Times was even saying his[Zuma's] position for a second term has been weakened, said ANC spokesperson Brian Sokutu.

"However, whatever decisions the ANC takes, he [Zuma] also forms part of the collective. the 3% drop in the vote cannot squarely be put on Zuma alone. South Africa held its fourth post-apartheid local government elections last week, with the ANC winning 63.65% of the vote, the DA 21.97%, the Inkatha Freedom Party 3.94%, the National Freedom Party 2.58% and the congress of the People 2.33%. The DA gained support in eight of the nine provinces, while the ANC declined in most Provinces, except KwaZulu-Natal. In the last municipal elections in 2006, the ANC secured 66.3% of the vote and the DA 14.8. The ANC is set to hold its national congress next year, where its leader for the next five years will be elected."

DiepKloof Township Ignites Despite these warning signs, the ANC still behaves with arrogance and mien unparalleled in the annals of the newly found budding democracy in South Africa. With the dwindling and diminishing returns on the part of the voter for the ANC, instead, the ANC, post-municipal elections, carried on business as usual. Meanwhile, the townships around South Africa are beginning to explode, albeit

ever so slowly, but with regular frequencies and ever increasing intensity.

These seemingly minor excursion that sporadically erupt in Soweto, have been written about as in the case of Diepkloof Township, part of the collective townships famously known as Soweto.

Sibongile Nkosi tells us about the events that took place in Diepkloof Township on June 30 2011: "Diepkloof in Soweto was quiet on Saturday morning after protesters blocked off roads and set tires on fire because of electricity cuts, Gauteng Police said. "They dispersed peacefully last night.

There was no violence or any arrests, Captain Nondumiso Mpantsha said. She said Eskom representatives had spoken to protesters on Friday night and they had dispersed shortly afterwards.

Protesters blocked off roads and set tires on fire on Thursday and Friday. Parts of Marthinus Smuts Road, Immink Drive and Beyers Naude were closed so that traffic could be diverted away from the area."[see pictures in Photo Gallery] Sibongile continues to inform us thus: "Meanwhile, this week saw another Protest in Zandspruit in north-west Johannesburg involving deep-seated discontent over ward councillors in ANC-controlled areas. The protests have raised questions about the progress of the ANC's task team that is meant to be looking into "list irregularities". After protests and court action brought against the party by its own members -- who claimed that the nomination process was flawed -- and before the municipal elections took place. President Jacob Zuma announced the formation of the team in a bid to unite the party."

Zandspruit Burns Agains In another related article but in a different Township, in the area of Johannesburg, in the Gauteng Province, Sibongile inform us: "It's early morning in Zandspruit and the police are barricading one end of the road. At the other end, behind a blockade of trees, rocks and burning tires, a mob of young and old emerge. Singing struggle songs. The protest started at 3am and would not stop until their councillor addressed them.

"You see what we have to do to get the government to listen to us?" said Johannes Melley, also pointing to the rubbish and big rocks on the road. It's been two months since South African local government elections, and the community is fuming that no one has come to address them since. As they march they carry posters that are calling for councillor Maureen Schneeman to step down.

"Zuma said we should vote for the ANC and he will build us proper houses and electricity, but we haven't heard anything from our councillor," says Mpho Phansi. Phansi has been living in Zandspruit since 1994 and been waiting for an RDP house all that time. He shows us his one-room shack where he lives with his family. In the same yard, he shares a toilet with about six families.

Back on the street, you can still see flames and smoke coming from burning of tires and tree trunks.

For many, Schneeman was not the preferred candidate; they wanted Steven Nhlapho, but don't know what happened. "Maureen lives in Sundowner, she doesn't know life in a shack. We want her out." says one of the teenagers. It seems like the young people are the driving force of the protest.

With all their energy and anger, they will not listen to any negotiations with the community committee. One member of Zandspruit committee came to calm the crowd by asking if they could have a formal meeting. A young man from the crowd said: "We are tired of meetings." Demonstrator Zanele Magwaza complained that she had been attending community meetings all her life, and they are often useless because nothing changes.

Apart from wanting Schneeman to step down, one of the burning issues that has spurred this episode is the construction of a taxi rank just down the road. "How can they start building a taxi rank, when people live in shacks?" she asks. "I have been living here since I was born," says Phillimon Kokong. My mom has been waiting for an RDP house all her life. When are we going to stop living like monkeys?" He picked up his loud hailer and goes to address the group. For Kokong and his fellow residents, the protests will continue until they see the changes they want in Zandspruit.

There are many places throughout South Africa where thee is a simmering loathe for officialdom, and a very miffed populace who see their leaders thriving and lolly-gaging, if not bathed with opulence and riding and enjoying the perpetual proverbial Gravy Train. The peoples grievances are met with the arrogance and dismissive attitude, and labeled 'criminals' and in the end they are accused of 'hating the ANC'.

The harangue from those in power who in a condescending and callous dismissive attitude often throw these please into the rubbish-bin of poverty and dread. These social maladies engineered by the presently ANC-led government, have pushed the poor towards a revolutionary stance and posture. Lungile Dube and Sam Sole on July 1 2011 wrote this article: Why violence Erupted in Ermelo A police intelligence report obtained by the Mail & Guardian has exposed that a vicious struggle for access to jobs and tenders provided the backdrop to the political violence that gripped Wesselton township in Ermelo. The report marked "secret" and dated February 17, was compiled by Captain Victor Mavuso, the Commander of the Mpumalanga counterterrorism unit, and is based on an interview with local ANC activist, Bongani Phakathi, whose removal as a Wesselton ward candidate was widely credited with sparking the unrest.

Mavuso's report provides fascinating insight into the fight for access to resources in Wesselton that has pitted local pressure group, the Msukaligwa Concerned Citizens (Also known as the Musukaligwa Community Committee - MCC), against Sibusiso Sigudla, a local strongman and ally of Mpumalanga Premier, David Mabuza.

In the interview, Phakathi, a political rival of Sigudla, said that he was caught in the middle of this tussle, though he was clearly the MCC's preferred candidate. In his summary, Mavuso highlighted some of the issues that he identifies as having triggered the unrest. They include: The failure to give timeous attention to the concerns of the citizen's committee; The self-imposition of Sigudla, a member of the ANC regional committee, as the "sole representative of ANC on 'tenders' and 'employment' decisions around Ermelo"; The failure to take steps against Sigudla for his "dubious dealings"; and Nepotism in employment and the issuing of 'tenders' in the municipality. In public works and in the surrounding mines.

Mavuso interviewed Phakathi in Pretoria after he handed himself over to the police following suggestions by national commissioner Bheki Cele that Phakathi was suspected of organizing the violence. Phakathi made it clear that MCC are no angels either. Mavuso take up the account fro 2009 when Phakathi was employed by Ramdel Construction to be a community liaison officer for the

N17 construction project outside Ermelo "The job description of Bongani[Phakathi] was to facilitate the employment of workers and subcontractors in that Project."

"Around January 2010," writes Dube and Sole that Bongani's truck and a bakkie were stopped from ferrying workers to the N17 project. On arrival at the scene, Bongani realized that the transports were stopped by Msukaligwa Community Committee members who were demanding to meet the project manager. On the same day the group met the project manager and they raised allegations that Phakathi "takes bribes" during the employment and subcontracting process.

"They were advised to open a criminal case, which they did, but the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. Sometime late, according to Mavuso's report, Phakathi was approached by two members of the MCC who suggested they bury their differences. "The two members alleged they had been hired by Sigudla to discredit him ...and received payments from Sigudla, through the chairperson of the committee. ...It is further alleged that they were promised tenders in government institutions and the local mines as payment. The two men who approached Bongani mentioned that they are angry at Sigudla because he failed to keep his promises."

"According to the police report, the MCC was well organized and met twice a week at a local school in Ward 5 to discuss employment opportunities, the placement of people in the Msuligwa Local Municipality, provincial departments, local mines, Escom and Spoornet, and tender opportunities.

"This effort of MCC has resulted in them having a huge command within the community of Ermelo," Mavuso said. After the rapprochement with members of the MCC, Phakathi started to facilitate employment at the N17 project for this group.

On the other hand, MCC proceeded [to look] for jobs through staging marches, some violent, in different mines using intimidation strategies... MCC strategies were having difficulties to achieve what was desired, because [for] ll places they were informed that it is only Sigudla who is recognized to facilitate any tender or employment. This was caused by the fact that Sigudla had introduced himself as an ANC REC [Regional Executive Committee] member instructed by the Premier to facilitate employment and issuing of tenders."

The authors of this article continued to write and offer some important points as to why 'Ermelo Erupted': "According to Mavuso's report, matters came to a head in 2010 when ANC branches started nominating ward candidates for the local government elections, which were held in May 2011. Its suggested that Sigudla used his influence to manipulate the process, including refusing to launch a branch where Phakathi was the chosen candidate.

"Sigudla became a member of the regional list committee and also had an opportunity to impose his preferred candidates," the report said. This included replacing Phakathi in Ward 5 with another candidate. In January 2011, the MCC handed over a memorandum of complaints to the municipal manager of Msukaligwa, Ace Dlamini, who promised to respond in seven working days .

"When he did not, on Sunday February 13, the committee held a community meeting at which they discussed their demands. "According to Bongani's [Phakathi] sources, the theme of the meeting was that by Monday they do not want Sigudla because ANC had failed them ...This then triggered the current violent unrest." During an interview with M&g three months ago, Phakathi said he feared for his life and did not trust the Mpumalanga police -- they had made it clear they believed he was fomenting the protests.

"That fear was behind the decision by Phakathi to hand himself over to police crime intelligence in Pretoria, with the assistance of former Mbombela mayor Lassy Chiwayo, a fierce critic of Mabuza.

But Phakathi previously told the M&G he was interrogated for 14 hours by the Mpumalanga head of the Hawks, General Simon Mapyane. "Mapyane asked me where I worked and where I got the money from to fund the protest.

"He asked me about my relations with [provincial legislature member and perceived rival of Mabuza] fish Mahalela... Lassy Chiwayo." Mpumalanga police confirmed that Mapyane had interviewed Phakathi but denied that he had asked him about his work or his relationship with politicians. The Mpumalanga police confirmed that Mapyane had interviewed Phakathi but denied that they had asked him about his work or his relationship with the politicians.

"Police spokesperson, Brigadier Lindela Mashigo told M&G at the time that Phakathi was questioned because the police believed he "could assist in establishing certain facts and provide the police with an understanding of the unrest in Ermelo and not because he was believed to be instigating it."(Dube/Sole) Corruption, Nepotism, Maladministration, Revolts and Empty promises I have cited various articles, as lengthy as they seem to be, to make the point of Government operations and their corruption. The other aspect of this dialogue will then attempt to show official responses to the charges above as an ongoing reality for those who voted or refused to vote in ANC chosen cadres. The response, which was a later follow-up on the story above by the Mail&Guardian, with Sigudla who, it is shown by the Interview as to how these potentates attitudes are like towards the locals over whom they lorded-upon.

Contacted by the M&G regarding the contents of the police intelligence report, Sibusiso Sigudla went on the offensive: "I was expecting your call. My intelligence has informed me that you were gong to call me and who you have been meeting. We know everything about you. I will not answer those questions related to Bongani [Phakathi].

"I don't work for the N17 project. You have been writing articles and making allegations in my name, but I didn't take it up with my attorneys because we wanted the elections to run smoothly. Why didn't you publish the fraud cases he is facing? Print whatever your president Bongani is telling you ...You are from his region and you should know what is happening and its politics ...welcome to the revolution."

Contacted again, Sigudla said: "Don't harass me. I said I don't want to speak to you again," and hung up (Lungile Dube). Poor service delivery is affecting most if not all the African townships, and some white enclaves.

Many reasons for these protests are offered. The primary reason is dissatisfaction with the delivery of basic municipal services such as running water, electricity and toilets(see picture of these toilets in photo gallery), especially in informal settlements. Unemployment (officially around 23%[I think it is really 45% countrywide]), high levels of poverty, poor infrastructure, and lack of houses add to the growing dissatisfaction in these and other poor communities.

This comes in the wake of political promise,(as shown as part of the complain stated by the protesters all over the country discussed above), during the election period that all or most of these issues will be addressed once the new government is in place.

Nico Le Roux has pointed that since 1994 all these elections were followed by similar demonstrators in 21 local communities, and since the elections take place in the Winter time (April/May), which is

immediately before the winter, these harsh realities exacerbate the absence of life's immediate necessities, and the poor become poorer, hungry, cold and very angry and irritable; whist the governmental malfunctions in its delivery of electricity, water and job creation.

In the midst of this dysfunction, the ANC-led government is helter-skelter rolling-out its indefensible way of governing. The people in the townships(the voting African polity), are complaining not only about the lack of amenities, which are their main complaints, but about the catering of African refugees who are clogging all available, yet meagre social programs, the taking over of 'mama and papa stores(tuck shops or "Sphaza" shops by mainly,nowadays, the Pakistanis and other nationalities, whilst the sit and watch in awe as the foreigners export their wares to their respective countries, whilst leaving(the locals) worse off than they were before.

They also decry the fact that nepotism, cronyism, corruption and the sidelining of masses of the poor in favor of kickback and shady back room deals which is fast mortgaging away the lives and nation of Africans. The present-day African ANC-led government is able to achieve this because it has bungled and destroyed education, and has rendered its populace confused and unsure about the nature and manner of their being educated.

"Regarding this issue we will refer to Jose Marti's take on 'Education' which he has this to say about it: Instruction is not the same as education: the former refers to thought, the latter principally to feelings. Nevertheless, there is no good education without instruction. Moral qualities rise in price when they are enhanced by qualities of intellect. Popular education does not mean education of the poorer class exclusively, but rather that all classes in the nation-tantamount to saying the people-be well educated.

"Just as there is no reason why the rich are educated and not the poor, what reason is there for the poor people to be educated and not the rich? They are all the same. He who knows more is worth more. To know is to possess. Coins are minted, knowledge is not. Bonds or paper money are worth more, or less, or nothing; knowledge always has he same value, and it is always high. A rich man needs money with which to live, but he can lose it and then he no longer has the means of living.

"An instructed man lives from his knowledge, and since hie carries it with him, he never loses it and his existence is easy and secure. The happiest nation is the one whose sons have the best education, both in instruction of thought and the direction of feelings. An instructed people loves work and knows how to derive profit from it. A virtuous people will live a happier and richer life than another that is filled with vices, and will better defend itself from all attacks."

The African (and poor White) people of South Africa, as has been discussed above cannot defend themselves against the onslaught by their own elected government, and they are facing all the social malaise described, and being invaded by foreigners, and when they react are accused of xenophobiain a couple of words, "They are caught between the rock and a hard place".

There is a t present a climate of uncertainty and a foreboding expectation of nothing is right nor will be in the present state of affairs in South Africa. The arrogance the new government has garnered for itself since taking power, is looking down its nose at the cries, complaints and pleas of a downtrodden people. As we have see, there have been sporadic instances of violence, and this will be increasing with time. With the North African revolutions having taken place in North Africa, and the Middle East, it is only a matter of time that these will spawn newer and more violent revolution in mid and South Africa.

Rampant corruption and Nepotism within government structure has become the norm. Some blame

poor governmental service delivery on the deployment of ANC 'comrades' to positions for which they are not qualified. It is important to consider the nature and implications of these service delivery protests as necessarily grassroots revolutionary leanings, posture and 'get up,' than it being produced by any so-called third force.

It also well known that any revolt that takes place is an attempt to fundamentally change an organizational structure in a relatively short period(witness the revolts in North Africa, Middles east today and their intended goals and strategies: to quickly remove the old tin-pot-handkerchiefhead despots from power and institute democracy and the rule of law in their countries).

As in the case of South Africa, if this situation is allowed to continue over a prolonged period, it has the potential to spread and develop into a fully fledged revolt. ANC needs to keep the promises it made to its polity, and realize the impact of these unkept promises, if not kept, and also attention is to be borne in mind since they have their potential to topple the present government.

ANC In The Shadow Of The Marikana Massacre Deep Pockets of Neoliberal Corporations Peter Stauber writes: "The South african ruling party's record in government is dire. With the people's disillusionment deepening, the Marikana massacre would mark a turning point for the ANC. ... For an ANC government to even consider resorting to a law that that was once used by the White minority government against Africans pro-democracy Africans, is bizarre(although it is not really the first time this happened, because one need to look at the 1984 Quatro files-wherein ANC soldier who wanted democracy, were mowed down and buried in mass and anonymous graves outside in Angola).

The murderous action taken by the ANC forces against the miners was under the auspices of 'Common Purpose Doctrine', which was used by the White regime against political activist in the Apartheid era.

Justice Malala wrote in the Guardian: "The 'Common Purpose' doctrine was used in the 1980s by a regime that could not investigate or police its own people. Instead, it used heinous a blanket law to bully ordinary citizens and prevent them gathering and voicing their anger. Common Purpose was the last threw of the dice of an illegitimate regime. For the ANC government to use this law against striking workers shows, at the very least, a flagrant disregard for historical sensibilities."

The ANC government's invocation of the "Common Purpose" law is symbolic of the deeper problems under which post-Apartheid South Africa labors. In January of 2012, when the ANC celebrated its 100th anniversary, the focus was on the heroic struggle against Apartheid. There was not much to be said about its record since coming into government in 1994.

South Africa has indeed made progress in terms of constitutional rights and access to heath(which is still bad) and education(has worsened more than the Boer's Bantu Education, to date), for example, but all advances are negated by the fact that the leaders have subordinated everything to neoliberalism, that is to say, they favored nation-building over class struggle. Like many countries in the 1990s, south africa took a neoliberal turn, privatizing public property, introducing regressive taxation, and empowering (local and international) finance capital.

The ruing elite was able to co-opt leaders of the ANC, thus ensuring the continued hegemony of neoliberalism. In the words of Jeremy Cronin, a prominent member of the South African Communist

Party, after 1994, the established White bourgeoisie pursued an agenda of "late Apartheid", which consisted of building a "buffer" black middle strata, in order to "ensure that the ANC that came into power would be hegemonized by the 'doves', the 'sensible moderates' who would distance themselves from the dangerous 'radical populists' and their volatile 'mass base'.

As part of this strategy, ANC-aligned individuals were, for example, offered internships in neoliberal corporations in the United States ad then deployed back into strategic positions in government. The dominance of the financial industry has, according to Hein Marais, lead to a situation in which finance capital "no longer spurs industrial development, but is geared at extracting maximum returns, even by dismantling and destroying industrial capacity. Its metabolism is now fundamentally parasitic."

Workers at the Lonmin's mine were paid a pittance t dig out the metal, which then gets turned into jewelry and dental fittings, and in the process it was enriching a few corporations and individuals.

People like Cyril Ramaphosa sit on the board of directors, who is connected with the National Mine Workers and OCSATU which is an important ally of the ANC. The leadership is more concerned with the upcoming ANC leadership elections than with improving the working conditions and pay of its members. The breakaway Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which c;aims between 20-30 percent of the workforce, accuses NUM(National Union of Miners) leadership of benefitting from the 'new" South Africa, while not doing enough to help the workers.

This sense of unfairness runs through South African society. Many people had high opes in Jacob Zuma, who took over the presidency in May 2009, but the lives of millions have hardly changed since then. The country's vast mineral riches -- it's the world's largest exporter of platinum -- benefit only a tiny minority. Unemployment remains high: officially, it is around 25 percent, but unofficially nearer 40 percent,if not more.

More than a third of the population lives on less than $2 a day. The ANC's autocratic, antidemocratic tendencies -- for example, its attempts to limit freedom of the press -- have contributed to the population's disillusionment with the former champion of the anti-apartheid struggle. The ANC is increasingly seen as corrupt and unconcerned with improving the live os the poor Although nay people still will vote for the ANC, but the Marikana massacre and the government's response to the strikes could make a turning point.

Julius Malema may be resorting to populist exaggeration when he says that the situation is worse than during Apartheid, but many African South Africans will agree and are voicing this mind-set when they look at the shame democracy as expounded and compounded by their ruling ANC-led government, today.