Capetonian Ratepayers Adopt their New R4.4Bn White Elephant

Capetonians to foot stadium bill

2010-10-06 18:17
News 24

Cape Town - Ratepayers will end up paying for Cape Town stadium's operating costs after Sail Stadefrance walked out on a 30-year lease to manage the property.

"We do not have final numbers on what this will cost the ratepayer. In the end it will be up to the citizens of Cape Town on whether they come to the stadium to support the teams and events," the city's acting mayor Ian Neilson told reporters on Wednesday.

The city will take over management of the R4.4bn stadium.

Sail Stadefrance said it had projected "substantial losses" if it took up the project.

Sail Stadefrance Operating Company (SSOC) chief executive Morne du Plessis said "unresolved matters" affecting the viability of the lease, due to start on November 1, and "severe operating constraints" had caused the company to withdraw from the lease.

"The operating cost was surprising," he said.

"The maintenance costs were way above expectations.

How long before the FIFA date-rape cocktail wears off?

The World Cup: Let's sober up

Stanley Uys says the euphoria will dissipate and the hard realities remain

Stanley Uys, Politicsweb
11 July 2010

What comes after the euphoria of the World Cup? Expectations. Will these expectations be met? No. Why not? Because if they haven't been met for the past 16 years of African National Congress rule a four-week feel-good factor is not going to make them happen now.

The erection of stadiums and facilities for the World Cup was a remarkable achievement, but it was a one-off. Also, some thought it a scandalous waste of money. Equally impressive achievements, like houses, could have been erected in the black townships where ferment has been simmering for years. What happens now? The ferment goes away? Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille says the "daily reality" for millions of South Africans is dictated by warlords. Will it, too, be gone now by next week?

The ANC clearly shared the feel-good moment that came with the games. But a (UK) Financial Times editorial which concluded that while South Africa had real problems, its success in staging the World Cup "should give it the confidence to tackle those problems with new energy," was naivety beyond belief. That the feel-good factor was a safety valve for intolerable tensions building up in the country is perfectly true, and psychologically interesting, but it remains a passing phenomenon.

Let's be real. After the prozac fix of the World Cup, comes the downer. Occasional prophets (or media praise-singers - just how many times can they change their tune?) may claim they had an experience on the road to Damascus, but not that battle-scarred ANC lot, who have slugged it out with each other for years, and are said now to be having a "dog-fight" in the presidency.

Thought-Crime: A ‘Robotoid Successful’ World-Cup-of-Bribery in Rainbow-Hypocrisy-La-La Land

Letter to Minister Mthwethwa; RE: Xenophobia and 'Successful' World Cup

by Andrea Muhrrteyn
Why We Are White Refugees

11 July 2010

Mr. Nathi Mthethwa
Minister of Police
Private Bag X 463, Pretoria, 0001
Tel: (012) 393 2810 / 2811
Fax: (012) 393 2812
Email: monaheng@saps.org.za

CC:

• General Beki Cele, National Commissioner of Police (NgobeniMi@saps.org.za)
  
• Zuger Polizei, c/o Judith Aklin (info.polizei@zg.ch)
  
• SA Political Party Leaders: DA, IFP, FF+, ID, et al
  
• WC 2010 Local Organizing Committee
  
• SA and Intn’l Media Editors, et al

Minister Mthwethwa,

A ‘Robotoid Successful’ World-Cup-of-Bribery in Rainbow-Hypocrisy-La-La Land: Is it a ‘Xenophobia Rumours and World Cup Failure’ Thought-Crime, to ‘THINK’?

In Xenophobia reports a plot to discredit SA – minister (Sunday Times, 11 July 2010), Mr. Minister appears to imply that it is a thought-crime for citizens to think for themselves, and to base their conclusions upon evidence. Instead it sounds almost as if citizens should just blindly ‘Heil ANC’ believe what we are instructed to believe. Is that your intention, Sir?

You state that you consider the World Cup a “success”. As you are no doubt aware, ‘success’ is an abstract concept, which means many different things to different people. I am unaware what definition of the abstract word ‘success’ you are referring to. For example:

$occer €ity Tender $ecrets & B£ank €heques...

Soccer City

What it says about the murky world of government tenders

Rob Rose, Amabhugane & ISS
Apr 29 2010

FAST FACTS ON SOCCER CITY

• The stadium cost approximately R3,4 billion to build and upgrade
  
  
• It occupies 25 hectares on the east of Soweto.
  
  
• It has a seating capacity of 94 000.
  
  
• The playing area is 11 232 m2.
  
  
• 80 000 m2 of concrete, 9 000 tons of reinforced steel, 7 100 tones of structural roof steel and 11 million bricks were used to construct it.
  
  
• It has 228 (mainly corporate) suites, split evenly between two levels.

Introduction

Designed as an African calabash and dubbed ‘the melting pot’, Soccer City is the showpiece stadium for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and is set to host the opening match, six further matches and the final match. With seating for 94 000 spectators and as the biggest stadium on the continent, it is rightly regarded as South Africa’s ‘national stadium’. It hasn’t come cheap, however.

At last count, Soccer City cost R3,4 billion to build and upgrade – funded by taxpayers through the National Treasury. While this was more than the R3,1 billion spent on Durban’s new Moses Mabhida Stadium,[1] it remains less than the R4,5 billion spent on Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium (see chapter in this publication, How Cape Town Got Its White Elephant).[2] But having spent so many tax rands building Soccer City, Johannesburg residents will have understandable expectations that the stadium will be able to provide some return on their investment.

FIFA Mafia B£lood$uckers: ¥he €nron of $port... Pt 2: $ABC, $occer €ity et al

SABC's R26-m 2010 WC Rental Bill

Niren Tolsi, Mail & Guardian
Apr 30 2010 13:32

The cash-strapped SABC plans to rent studio space at the Sandton Convention Centre during the World Cup -- at an astronomical mark up -- from a businessman linked to the broadcaster's head of Project 2010, Peter Kwele.

Graham Cooke, the president of World Travel Awards and a personal friend of both Kwele and his wife, Lindiwe Mahlangu-Kwele, the chief executive of Johannesburg Tourism, is the middleman from whom the SABC will rent the space.

At a cost of R26-million for 1800m2 for the duration of the event, Cooke will make a substantial profit on the deal -- according to the convention centre, its rates during the World Cup period have remained at R20 a square metre a day for exhibition hall one and R15 a square metre a day for its second exhibition hall. But in the sub-letting deal, the SABC will effectively pay about R480 a square metre a day.

Last year the SABC spurned the opportunity to rent space at Nasrec, the site of the opening and closing games. At €380 000 (about R3,7-million), the public broadcaster decided it was too expensive. The broadcaster had decided to downscale its presence at Nasrec, presenting only 12 matches from there and the rest from the SABC sports studio at Auckland Park.

But that's not what happened. In the new year the SABC general manager of sport, Oupa Mahlangu, issued an instruction calling for "big ideas", triggering a scramble for new broadcasting space. According to internal SABC documents in the possession of the Mail & Guardian, Kwele then went ahead and facilitated the deal with Cooke.

According to the documents, Kwele arranged to barter R1-million worth of advertising in a trade exchange for the use of the convention centre. On March 17 he passed on the handling of the trade exchange to Mahlangu after confirming to the technical team working on the project that it was in the region of R1-million.

FIFA & Mbeki's $3 Bi££ion €£ephant Finger to €apetown..

Public loss, FIFA’s gain: How Cape Town got its ‘white elephant’

Sepp Blatter and Thabo Mbeki intervened to have Cape Town's Green Point Stadium built -- at R3-billion more expensive than two available alternatives.

Karen Schoonbee and Stefaans Brümmer, Amabhugane & ISS
Apr 29 2010

INTRODUCTION

It was FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s first visit to the Mother City, but he knew exactly what he wanted from her.

When Ebrahim Rasool, then premier of the Western Cape, went to see Blatter at the five-star Arabella Sheraton Hotel on 22 November 2005, the visitor complimented Cape Town’s ‘spectacular scenery’, saying the city could be the ‘face’ of 2010 and host one of two semi-final matches. He came to the point: the city’s match venue should be at Green Point and not Newlands Stadium as envisaged when South Africa won the bid to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup 18 months earlier, or Athlone Stadium, favoured by the province and the city for its developmental potential. A brand new stadium.

Operation Dribble: FIFA Soccer Corruption on Steroids....

Gone are the days of sports hero's like the Flying Scotsman, who inspired all to principles and standards... these days it appears to be that the sports world grovels in the political corruption trough, to see who can be the sleaziest, slimiest, most corrupt Godfather mob boss: If I was religious I'd say we have sports teams and sports players Soddom and Ghomorrah would have been proud to have:

Safa is the battleground for South Africa’s famous soccer bosses, rich men who like cutting a dash and are rough: accusations of attempted or actual murder are not uncommonly flung at them and they are willing to use financial or actual muscle to solve most problems. The authorities are visibly afraid of them. When Irvin Khoza, one of the greatest of all the bosses – ‘the Iron Duke’, as he is known – was found not to have paid his taxes for some time the tax authorities merely called him in for ‘consultations’ and reached a quiet arrangement with him. There was no thought of court action.

Similarly, a few years ago the police arrested dozens of referees in ‘Operation Dribble’, having discovered that they had been bribed to fix most of South Africa’s Professional Soccer League (PSL) soccer matches. The police were very pleased at having caught the refs red-handed but then it dawned that they could not be sentenced without the naming in open court of the soccer bosses who had bribed them. This was obviously unthinkable so the refs were all released and continue to manage domestic games in time-honoured fashion.

Does Zuma have the courage for an Invictus Confederacy?

Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation; By John Carlin [*Amazon*] [*Kalahari**Kalahari*]

The only Invictus looming [for Zuma] is if he follows on where Mandela did not have the courage to go:

The creation of a South Africa Confederacy with a Central Council and representation as individual nations (of all tribes) with their own elected representatives. Allegedly this is what Lord Carnarvon suggested around 1876 as the only system that would work.

He could use the Abathembu Secession attempt VERY POSITIVELY.

In the absence of such a settlement or Tribal Secession of all Tribal Nations to Self Determination and Independence.. take a look at Zimbabwe.. or Kenya, or Liberia, blah blah blah… to envision South Africa’s future…

-- White Refugee on January 12th, 2010 at 10:20 am

SA's Inconvenient Truth: False Hopes About 2010 World Cup?

Development and Dreams: The urban legacy of the 2010 Football World Cup; By Udesh Pillay, Richard Tomlinson, Orli Bass (eds)

The urban legacy of the 2010 Football World Cup considers the effects of South Africa's hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It is held that here lies the greatest potential benefit of the 2010 World Cup - a repudiation of Afropessimism and an assertion of a contemporary African identity both at home and on a global stage.

The contributors to this volume, both academics and practitioners, provide an interdisciplinary perspective on the probable consequences of the World Cup for the economy of South Africa and its cities, on infrastructure development, and on the projection of African culture and identity.

Dr Udesh Pillay is Executive Director of the Centre for Service Delivery at the HSRC. He holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Minnesota. Professor Richard Tomlinson is Chair of Urban Planning in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne. Prior to joining the University of Melbourne, he was Visiting Professor at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand. Dr Orli Bass is with the Centre for Critical Research on Race and Identity at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Fahrenheit 2010: A Matter More Important than Life or Death (Documentary)

Fahrenheit 2010: A Matter More Important Than Life or Death; Feature documentary, by Australian Craig Tanner

“If we are going to have white elephants, so be it”
-- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Once the World Cup Tourists pack their bags and go home; and the economy haemoraghes from World Cup stadium debt, in a country in crisis; and hundreds of thousands (?) of African World Cup 'tourists' don't go home, but stick around, as 'refugees'; do you think ANC voters will be encouraged by ANC and 'TRC' leaders to hold the ANC accountable? Or might they find themselves the proverbial 'right wingers' scapegoats to blame?

“When you build enormous stadia, you (are) shifting those resources ... from building schools or hospitals and then you have these huge structures standing empty and being used to a very limited extent. They become white elephants”
-- ‘anti-apartheid’ (sic) Veteran Dennis Brutus, jailed with Nelson Mandela at Robben Island in the 1960's

“Lingering concerns that some stadiums will become empty shells that are a burden to taxpayers have threatened to take the shine off government plans to leave a meaningful post-tournament legacy. In September Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said the government faced a 2.3 billion rand ($307 million) shortfall for six new stadiums.” -- Fahrenheit 2010

S.S. ZA Titanic # 2: World Cup 2010 Stadium's Going to Haemorrhage Money....

“South Africa's World Cup stadiums could change the image of Africa forever, or stand as spectacular monuments to extravagance and waste in a country still struggling to spread the fruits of majority rule.”

“Are the new stadiums built for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, a country where football jostles with rugby and cricket for audience, destined to become white elephants after the month-long tournament? That's the 12.1-billion-rand, or 1.57-billion-dollar question - the cost of five new stadiums in Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Nelspruit and Polokwane.”

“The "white elephant" spectre is one that has come to haunt World Cup and Olympic Games hosts.... ”

“Cape Town is set to sign away the R4.5bn Green Point super-stadium - for just R1 a year..... Ralph Malan, a retired engineer and vehement opponent of the [Green Point] stadium, says the project has been “bedevilled from start to finish with official deception of the public”.”

“The stadium is going to haemorrhage money.”

Meet South Africa's new Big Five...White Elephant 2010 WC Stadiums

One of the emergency financial decisions by the Pontiac City Council was to sell the Pontiac Silverdome, originally built for $55.7 million 35 years ago, for $583,000.... less than a house, or Rodent Infested Manhattan One Bed Room Apartment. ANC Captain Blighs of S.Y. ZA-Titanic Charging Full 'Circus Maximus' Speed Ahead to 2010 World Cup Iceberg...

Two more articles, The Big Five: Stadiums could become white elephants and R4.5bn stadium to let for R1/yr, confirming the future Post Peak Oil Collapse white elephant status of Superdome Stadiums, in ANC Captain Blighs of S.Y. ZA-Titanic Charging Full 'Circus Maximus' Speed Ahead to 2010 World Cup Iceberg...

The dome changed hands at a price that represents just a quarter-cent on the dollar versus what it cost to build in 1975 — $220 million in today’s dollars. That comes out to $7.25 a seat, a fire sale that’s reduced the once-proud arena to another sad symbol of the Detroit area’s economic collapse.

“An 80,000-seat domed arena and its 127-acre site sold for less than a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan,” Jon Stewart marveled on “The Daily Show.” Not just any apartment — one “with a rodent problem, above a bowling alley and below another bowling alley.”

Leeb said, Pontiac could ill afford to continue paying $1.5 million in annual upkeep for the stadium.

ANC Captain Blighs of S.S. ZA-Titanic Charging Full 'Circus Maximus' Speed Ahead to 2010 World Cup Iceberg...

$1,2bn (R8,9bn). The estimated total construction cost of SA's 10 World Cup stadiums. [Fin.Mail]

Without a true world government to control reproduction and the use of available resources, the sharing ethic of the spaceship is impossible. For the foreseeable future, our survival demands that we govern our actions by the ethics of a lifeboat, harsh though they may be. Posterity will be satisfied with nothing less.
Lifeboat Ethics: the Case Against Helping the Poor
by Garrett Hardin, Psychology Today, September 1974

“The poorest continent in the world is hosting the biggest, most expensive sporting event there is in the middle of a recession. My worry is, who is going to pitch up? Look, there are two sides to this. The government is spending 40bn rand on this project – that's half the medical budget – including 11bn on transport and another 11bn on stadiums. Meanwhile, seven million are dying of Aids, for which the budget is 600,000 rand.”
Professor Matthew Lester, Rhodes University, Grahamstown

“We have seen empty stadiums in recent cricket and football World Cups...”
Tim Crow, chief executive of the sponsors' consultancy Synergy