Oof
Nary a ball has been kicked or a vuvuzela truly used with intent, but we’ve already got plenty to write about besides interminable predictions for England/USA and beyond.
Three journalists went to bed in their comfy room at the Nutbush Boma Lodge in Magaliesburg, a small holiday village NW of Johannesburg, though they woke up early at 4am confronted by gun-wielding robbers who relieved them of passports, camera equipment, and cash.
Inspiring stuff, especially if you’re a journo about to set sail, but never fear! The police are all over this one.
Take Brigadier Govensamy Marimuthu, lead investigator in the crime against the Portuguese press corps:
“The incident happened about four o’clock when the journalists were asleep in their chalets. All we know for now is the robbers took cameras, passports and cash. No one was injured and we are busy with an investigation. We hope to make some arrests soon with the case…”
Not holding my breath there, honestly, but his follow-up comments were even better: “These are crimes that are happening, but not affecting the stadiums. We are policing these places. We are also calling on visitors to take extra precautions as well. If they are staying at a hotel, then they should make use of the safe and other security facilities that are available.”
I guess I don’t quite know what more these guys could do. They’re locked up in their hotel rooms. Would the safe be much better? They’d just be held at gunpoint until they opened it. Or the hotel security facilities? Are they bulletproof? Seriously though guys, be more careful than staying in a secure-ish hotel with your stuff locked away and packed tight.
It’s cynical of me to suggest that it’s going to get a lot worse over the next month, but I can’t help it. With all that cash and shiny equipment flooding into the country, robbing guys at gunpoint in their hotel room sets the standard. Factor in transportation, travel, and the stadia themselves… /not saying, just saying
[UPDATE: Goal.com fills out the story a bit and also mentions, rather casually I might add, that a member of the SBS broadcasting team "was robbed at the restrooom of a grocery store in Johanesburg, when three robbers broke in and strangled the man to steal his belongings while he was passed out," and that a Korean reporter was robbed in the street. That makes three, I guess...]
Chairman Omali Yes**tela
“But the state — and gee, well, you know,you’ve got to have the police, cause if there were no police, look at what you’d be doing to yourselves! You’d be killing each other if there were no police! But the reality is the police become necessary in human society only at that junction in human society where it is split between those who have and those who ain’t got”
Can you blame some of the poorest people in the world who live without resources? The chasm between rich and poor is crazy. 25% unemployment and their are not 25% more jobs in SA so you kinda see why this happens. I’m not saying its right, but I’m also not putting the blame solely on the South Africans committing robbery. Countries with high levels of stratification suffer from high crime as a result of how the order their society.
Poor people don’t have a personal responsibility to make ethical decisions because society is s**tty? That’s reasonable.
LE – that’s correct. When society sucks, you’re relieved of your own free will. It’s great.
@LE
Asking people to starve isn’t reasonable either, nor is continually asking them to live in abject poverty.
if people are constantly shut out of the official economy (because of prejudice or because there simply aren’t enough jobs or they can’t move to where the jobs are etc.) they turn to the unofficial economy as a way to support themselves and their families. Is that an unethical decision? I’m not sure, its a gray area (except for strangling a guy, i mean thats super s**tty no doubt). Like stealing bread if you’re starving. but its easier to steal things that are worth money that can buy any kind of food or medicine. I’m just saying you have to wonder why it is that high crime rates happen in countries with high levels of stratification amongst disadvantaged groups. Or at least I think you do. You could just keep believing that people don’t have jobs simply because they don’t try hard enough and expect them to wait in squalor and abject poverty until they decide to try hard enough. Plus i said in my post that I wasn’t saying it was right, but instead of using this world cup to look at legitimate social problems and root causes, its going to be another excuse to exert why we’re so much better doing things over here and how those back asswards nations are so full of crime and bad people. So yes, poor people must deal with ethical decisions and questions of survival because a society that was built on apartheid and never fixed the material inequalities of apartheid exists.
Arkie:
For me, this is nothing about the South African people whatsoever. It all comes back to FIFA; while their goals may have had a shred of nobility and goodwill in the beginning, I just don’t think they planned or prepared this World Cup very well. That’s my issue. Not saying anything of the social strata, the desperation of poverty, etc.
Just so we’re clear.
@berkamp
Part of the argument comes from looking at how do you fix the problems of crime in SA. Is the answer really just more cops?
@JT
totally reasonable assertion. I think we realize that FIFA largely looks out for itself and its business interests. Hopefully the mistakes from SA make Brazil awesome. Sorry if it appeared I had UF blaming South Africans.
It’s ok, Arkie. This is going to be a major point of contention, I think, in the aftermath of the World Cup. Sepp’s legacy rests on the success of this tournament, but we’ve seen so many negative stories that it’s hard to feel optimistic that the next month is going to go smoothly. And that’s firmly on FIFA.
That WaPo article linked a few days ago about more Americans going to the World Cup included an interview with a guy who is going to a bunch of games this summer.
He went to the ConfedCup last year and was robbed while staying in a B&B. But he’s still going back.
@Arkie: COMMIE!!!