Would you lie, cheat, steal, kill or die to be here?
A little while ago we mentioned the upcoming film Fahrenheit 2010, a documentary about the shadiness surrounding World Cup 2010. We’ve also discussed the murder of an official who blew the whistle on corruption in the construction process, the long delays in that process, the general violence in the areas surrounding the stadia, and the intrusive presence of the vuvuzelas.
The Guardian now has a story listing all of the scandalous activity associated with the most troubled of the WC 2010 stadia, Mbombela, also known as “The Giraffe.” The 43,500-seater, 1.3 billion Rand ($172 million) stadium sits on land in Nelspruit, which is near the entrance to Kruger National Park, which is in the middle of a former Boer municipality. Originally, the municipality had attempted to buy the land from local Matsafeni farmers for 1 Rand (umm, $0.13) and an agreement was signed with the Matsafeni Trust. Fortunately, a high court ruled that the Trust was not authorized to make such a transaction, and the community has been paid 8.7 million Rand ($1,125,000 – still doesn’t seem like a lot).
Construction of Mbombela has been delayed numerous times, due to both financial irregularities and instances of violence. When the project began, two schools were displaced as their buildings were taken over by construction crews. After months of being denied new schools as promised, students took to the streets and clashed with police on three separate occasions, even burning a squad car. In addition to being denied schooling, local residents have been forced to exist without electricity and clean water despite promises that stadium construction would bring better living conditions.
Nelspruit mayor Lassy Chiwayo, who donated his entire salary when taking office last year, has said that Mbombela stadium will be done by the end of 2009, with electrical and water supplies from the stadium extended into the poor township shortly thereafter. However, his constituents are skeptical at this point, having not seen any promises kept thus far.
But, hey! FOOTY! Please come to the stadium, nothing else to see outside.
I don’t know about anybody else but i would actually rather watch the games from a bar or my home than go to South Debacle for this world cup.
Why isn’t a much bigger stink being raised about this? It’s one thing to say that there are shady dealings, corruption, or greed afoot. But we’re talking about gross human rights abuses here.
A $170+ million stadium side-by-side with people who lack access to clean water. That’s just f**king disgusting.
A big stink! Because they dont have sewers!!!
Anonsters — is this really uncommon? I’d like you to visit most professional sports areans in the US built in the last 20 years. Coors Field in Denver is about four blocks from the city’s largest mission. The dome in St. Louis is literally across the street from that city’s largest mission. Ever been to Chicago? Outside of Wrigley…good lord.
Whizalen: fair point, but none of those are hosting arguably the world’s biggest, richest sporting event
whiz: I suspect that those who live around Wrigley, or the Denver mission near Coors Field, don’t have to dig holes in the ground in order to have access to water, which water just happens to be contaminated with urine, s**t, and god knows what else.
James + Anon — I don’t disagree. But they do host what Americans consider to be the biggest sporting events in the world (world series, super bowl, ncaa final four). And while we can consider our destitute fortunate they don’t have to dig for their own water, their living conditions and environment are unexcusable in the “richest nation in the world.” Particularly when you look across the street at the taxpayer funded, in most cases unnecessary, sporting venue across the street.
whiz: Are you saying that around Wrigley Field it’s a slum? Because it’s not. It’s yuppie. Or are you saying that except for Wrigley Chicago is a slum, because that’s not true either. Lots of blight on the South Side and even just north of Lakeview.
Point taken in that we have huge stadia and poor people side by side, but Wrigley ain’t in the middle of the latter.
@PR – perhaps he was thinking of the Cell, which is in the middle of a s**thole?