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Last Update: April 8, 2001 |
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Soccer stadium deaths calls for changes As thousands gathered at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon to honour the 43 victims of the midweek soccer stampede, top South African officials have called for drastic changes in the handling of big matches. Time is not on the side of the most popular sport in the country as South Africa is due to host Zimbabwe at the FNB Stadium on May 5 in a World Cup qualifier likely to test the 80 000 capacity of the ground. Former South African Woman of the Year Ria Ledwaba said methods of ticket sales and security personnel training had to be radically overhauled. The owner of Castle Premiership club Ria Stars believes tickets for matches involving crowd-pullers like Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Sundowns must be pre-sold. "Only a few thousand tickets should be available at the match venue and sales must be stopped several hours before the kick-off," the widely respected official said. "Our security personnel need retraining. In England, security is visible and those who misbehave are quickly identified and removed from the ground." Ledwaba said seating arrangements also needed to be reviewed by the Premier Soccer League (PSL) as South African fans sit haphazardly, making control difficult. "If we could have a situation where supporters from the host club sit apart from those of the visiting team, it would not only make life simpler for security officials, but also minimise the risk of scuffles." Ajax Cape Town chief executive Rob Moore said he would ban the sale of tickets at stadiums before big matches as it was a major factor leading to the Ellis Park disaster. "And the time has come to do something about seating arrangements," he said. "Tickets must be assigned seat numbers and supporters must sit in their allotted places." While Santos chief executive Afzal Khan said tickets for all high-risk fixtures must be pre-sold and the matches staged during daylight hours, he was concerned by the attitude of football fans. "They seem loath to buy tickets in advance despite many appeals from officials and media articles urging them to do so. I believe television has a major role to play in educating our supporters. "We also need risk managers in each major football centre and not just Johannesburg. The PSL's risk manager, David Thidiela, left the organisation recently and has not been replaced." While many questions have been raised about the roles of officials, security personnel and medical staff and unproven allegations of extra tickets being sold illegally, there is also widespread agreement that fans must take some of the blame. The culture of arriving at a match venue shortly before kick-off and expecting to find parking, a ticket and a seat within a few minutes must end if further tragedies are to be avoided. As dozens of bodies lay on the dew-topped Ellis Park pitch on Wednesday night, it was clear that the old ways of doing business at big matches had played a major role in South Africa's biggest sporting disaster. Perhaps the only surprise was that it took so long for the Ellis Park stampede to happen. There have been numerous close shaves with tragedy being averted through pure luck. When Chiefs and Pirates met at Ellis Park two years ago, fences were broken, the stadium's capacity was exceeded, but swift police action averted the loss of life. An estimated 100 000 spectators saw South Africa defeat Congo at the 80 000-capacity FNB stadium near Soweto to clinch qualification for the 1998 World Cup finals in France. Every pathway was occupied, every exit blocked and security officials later admitted that one fight or one misplaced cigarette butt could have left hundreds dead. As South African soccer continued to skate on rapidly melting ice, it ran out of luck at Ellis Park when thousands of locked-out fans smashed every obstacle that prevented them gaining entry. This is the way it has always been: a free-for-all with no respect for pre-booked tickets or seat numbers. Faced with vast numbers of fans demanding entry, security personnel are often powerless to intervene. It is all so different when Ellis Park hosts major rugby matches with only pre-booked ticket holders allowed entry and strict control of traffic around the Doornfontein ground. Rugby officials often stage several curtain raisers to entice fans into grounds well before the main match starts. The result has been the orderly entry and exit of spectators. There was pre-match music at Ellis Park last Wednesday night, but fans interviewed by The Sunday Independent said they wanted live acts rather than artists miming to CD songs. It is all so different in Britain, a country recently visited by the PSL's board of governors. To watch Arsenal, Spurs, Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea is nearly impossible unless you hold a season ticket. If there are any spare seats, they go to "club members" who pay R2 500 per year and have a special phone line they can call for tickets. If tickets are still available, the public can call and ask for tickets with questions often asked to check that they are genuine supporters of the particular club. Even those tickets are usually sold out a week before the game with fans buying through credit cards and having the tickets sent to their homes. Sometimes they collect them at designated points at the stadium. Outside the grounds, you occasionally get "touts" who sell tickets at way above face value to tourists. But there is never a buildup of fans outside grounds. And the tickets are assigned seats, so you can't just sit anywhere as is the case in South Africa. Also, police play a huge role in English soccer. Often mounted on horseback, they feature at every game. Huge numbers of them operate around and inside grounds. Racist chanting, swearing and gesturing results in expulsion from the ground with police and club stewards co-operating. Thanks to IOL.co.za [ Top ]  Kytie Koekblik ColumnKytie Koekblik Washington D.C. - Hierdie week het ‘n groot koevert hier opgedaag vir my, in swart gedruk; CONFIDENTIAL.Die eerste konfidentiele koevert wat in my lewe aan my gepos word. Dit word genoem “tax returns”. Hier in die land van vryheid, is daar een ding wat die tyd my maar sal moet leer, en dit is hoe die talle sisteme en wette en organisasies en skedules en tyd werk sodat ek nie in die nette van bureakrasie vasgevang sal word nie. Jy betaal mos taxes aan die “state” en jy bly in “counties” en jy betaal sulke snaakse goed soos social security, medicare, en federal withholdings en al hierdie geld verdwyn in verskillende swart gate. Amerika maak geld uit non-immigrants soos ek met tydelike werkspermitte, aangesien ons nooit weer die geld met ‘n oog sal sien nie. As ek ‘n kar kon bekostig, het ek wragtig nie ‘n goeie ou nommerplaat nie, maar ‘n “tag” met die woorde “TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION” op my kar gesit. Dit is die PC ding om in die District of Columbia te doen, want ons het mos nie verteenwoordiging in sekere bureakratiese instansies nie. Al die metro busse gaan ook nou sulke lisensie plate kry, want Bush het mos besluit om syne af te haal. Al het ek ook in watter staat in enige van die 52 state gebly, het ek wragtig op my nommerplaat laat skryf, taxation without representation want as “temporary alien” het ek absoluut geen regte of selfs ‘n stem nie. En ek is altyd bang die hand van die gereg/INS/doeane/traffic cop/immigration gaan op my neerdaal en besluit om my stukkie papier wat ‘n visa genoem word, te “revoke.” In elk geval, toe die Baas die koevert aan my oorhandig, toe voel ek asof ek ‘n lewe het. Nie ‘n speel-speel ma en pa doen die werk en sus speel haar dae om op universiteit soort lewe nie, maar ‘n regte lewe, daardie lewe waarop ek altyd gewag het. En toe is dit asof ek skielik weer daardie koue rillings kry: Ek is besig om daardie lewe te leef waarvan ek altyd gedroom het. Die eendag-lewe, die eendag-as-ek-groot is lewe. Ek is in Amerika. Die plek waarvan ons altyd groot-oog gehoor het, waar die Wit Huis, die magtigste plek in die wereld, gebou is. My movie-lewe. Ek wou myself daaraan herinner, veral toe daardie koevert my laat dink aan my Grootmens Lewe, en hier sit ek, ‘n derdewereldse Afrikanertjie vir wie Mars en Washington laasjaar dieselfde dimensies in my kop gehad het, hier sit EK IN WASHINGTON DC, the Capital City. Daarom is ek en die Amerikaanse Filosoof gisteraand na werk, na die Mall toe. Ek wou soos ‘n toeris voel. Die Filosoof bly al vir vyf jaar in Washington, en ek dink gisteraand het hy ook soos ‘n toeris gevoel toe hy die mag wat setel in die grond en grasperke van die Mall en rondom die Wit Huis, saam met my beleef. ‘n Secret Service agent het die fout gemaak om vir ons te glimlag toe ons om die Wit Huis stap. Natuurlik is ek mos altyd ‘n joernalis, selfs al verbeel ek my ek is toeris. Daarom trek ek toe onmiddellik weg met ‘n spul vrae wat die secret service man toe gelukkig vir my beantwoord. Gewoonlik is secret service manne baie, baie tough. Hulle gesels nie, as jy hulle vriendelik groet brom hulle “Yes Mam.” Hulle is erger as Kubaanse poliesmanne. Die vriendelike man vertel toe vir my, secret service manne gee nie om of dit Bush of Clinton is nie, hulle pas die President op soos hulle Getrain is om te doen. Logies. Maar dit was soos ‘n movie om met een van hulle te praat. Daar is mos so iets misterieus omtrent die flinke manne wat altyd so nors is, en lyk asof hulle volk en vaderland se veiligheid op hulle skouers rus. Die spesifieke man werk al vir meer as 15 jaar vir die Secret Service, en hy het dit glo baie geniet om vir Reagan te werk. Reagan het sy secret service manne soos familie getreat, terwyl Clinton glo nie groep-georienteerd was nie. Clinton was meer ‘n private familie-mens, en sy staff was sy staff. Die Secret Service man het natuurlik ook ‘n paar skietvoorvalle meegemaak in sy leeftyd, onder andere die onlangse een buite die Wit Huis. Die aandjie het my sommer baie goed gedoen, net om weereens te besef ek is nie in Suid-Afrika nie, en dat dit ‘n avontuur is in hierdie vreemde kultuur in hierdie vreemde, magtige stad tussen al die wit olifante/monumente. Ek waardeer dit weer, en is daarom lus om vandag vir myself ‘n Macdonalds 1 dollar double cheeseburger te koop. (en die Baas se dit is Pure Poison. En hy se should know want hy’s al amper vrek van al die dubbels en trippels. Die Baas se ook, Kytie Kannie Kook nie.) Daarom het ek ‘n Macdonalds glimlag vandag, ek is mos in die VSA! Viva die Capitol City. Kytie K. Kytie Koekblik would like you to respond to her tongue-in-cheek running commentary on suburban life in America in this editorial. Fresh off the boat, she is ready to explore and experiment with American bath plugs and to drive on the other side of the road. You can contact her here. © RSA-Overseas & Matheson Communications [ Top ] Mbeki 'womaniser' row: Fraser-Moleketi fed up A woman cabinet minister has for the first time spoken out about the recent controversy surrounding President Thabo Mbeki. Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, the minister of public service and administration, has rejected as "a lot of nonsense" what she says is a whispering campaign against the president, which includes insinuations that women in the cabinet got their positions by giving sexual favours. In an interview following her release of a statement on behalf of all women cabinet ministers and deputy ministers on Friday, Fraser-Moleketi compared recent media commentaries about the president to the climate built up prior to the assassination of Communist Party leader Chris Hani in 1993. She said she had taken the "extraordinary step" of releasing a statement on behalf of women in the cabinet to signify that she and her colleagues were "pretty fed up" with the climate being created. "This must stop," she said. Fraser-Moleketi said her intervention was in line with references in the Bill of Rights to the dignity of individuals and gender equity. Mbeki had not been informed of her decision to take the initiative she had taken, she said, adding that the step had been taken after considering the risk that such a high-level statement might raise the media profile of the issue. So far the matter has received only minimal coverage in the local mainstream press as well as internationally. "This is the easiest way to label women - with insinuation and innuendo. If there are issues, they should raise them and prove them. If there is no fact and no proof, people deserve their privacy. "We have raised the issue and we are going to look at how we can take it further," she said. "It is not simply a whispering campaign, it is about the gender struggle." Fraser-Moleketi's statement said: "We are within our rights seriously to pose the question: whose political agenda is being pursued and for what purpose?" Asked to elaborate, she said she had experienced the phenomenon of "consolidating patriarchy" in South Africa and at the Beijing and Beijing Plus Five conferences on women and gender. "There are still areas that people like to declare male in the public and private sector," she said. "Many of us feel we have been active over decades and we are not going to lose the gains because of these insinuations. We want to fight for this space. "This whispering campaign could undermine confidence in our democracy, in public office and society." Fraser-Moleketi said the decision to issue the statement was inspired partly by the German theologian pastor Niemoller's statement about Nazi Germany, that "first they came for the Jews, and I did not protest because I was not a Jew". Niemoller's statement concludes by saying: "When they came for me, there was no one left to protest." The latest round of media references began when a report in last Sunday's City Press referred to the president as a "womaniser". Journalist Max du Preez repeated the word on radio and The Citizen splashed it on its front page, quoting him. But the first references to the subject came in a letter in May last year from Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the president of the ANC women's league and an ANC MP, to the deputy president, Jacob Zuma. The existence of the letter was first reported in the Sunday Times in January and details of its content were later disclosed by the Mail & Guardian. In the letter Madikizela-Mandela wrote that at a meeting of the ANC national working committee last May Mbeki had accused her of spreading rumours that he had taken Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa's wife out one evening and returned her at 5am. Madikizela-Mandela's letter went on to connect Mbeki to four other women, including ministers and deputy ministers. She denied being the source of these rumours. Fraser-Moleketi said her statement was a response to journalists who repeated the rumours in public. She said because they were not ANC members the matter could not be dealt with as an internal matter. Fraser-Moleketi said she was not going to comment publicly on Madikizela-Mandela because she was being dealt with inside the ANC. Du Preez on Saturday denied making any reference to cabinet ministers and described suggestions that he had a political agenda as "absurd". "The minister is clearly reacting to Winnie's letter or something else in the ANC, clearly not to what I said," said Du Preez. "I said we should understand the struggle in the ANC by taking note of the fact that gossip about the president's personal life is part of the dynamic inside the party and we should look at it because there is a power struggle going on." Thanks to IOL.co.za [ Top ] Flooding of canal brings Cape Town's Venice closer Cape Town's own little Venice came a step closer this week with the flooding of a 300 metre section of the canal which will ultimately link the Foreshore and the V&A Waterfront. The canal, spanned by three bridges, will be able to accommodate yachts up to 12m long. It runs from the old tank farm, which is now flooded, towards the city and ends near the first circle at the main entrance to the Waterfront. Work has already started on the next section which will stretch to the convention centre under construction at the bottom of Adderley Street. Ownership of a flat in the modern apartment blocks nearing completion on the banks of the canal, will entitle the owner to the ultimate yuppie toy - a bridge remote control. "This will allow yachtsmen who sail along the canal to press their remotes to raise any one of three hydraulically operated bridges that span the canal," said Craig Badings, spokesperson for the Victoria & Alfred marina development. "The height of the masts of the yachts won't matter because people will be able to raise the arms of the bridges with a press of their remote. People will be able to sail up to the first circle near the main entrance to the Waterfront." Smaller water taxis will ultimately be able to sail from the convention centre to the Waterfront and back again. George Viljoen, managing director of the V&A Marina, said flooding of the 300m section started on Monday and it took three days to fill the canal. "It has been designed with the marina residents in mind. As a result its shallowest point is 2,7 metres, a depth that will accommodate yachts up to 12 metres long," he said. The first V&A Marina residents are expected to move into their Waterfront apartments in June. Most of the apartments in the first two phases of the development have already been sold at prices ranging from R1-million for a bachelor flat to more than R6-million for a penthouse. Construction on the third phase of the development started recently. The 300m section of the canal will be officially opened on April 24. Thanks to IOL.co.za [ Top ] Pityana questions Bosch execution Barney Pityana, the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission, says he is shocked by the Botswana government's callous approach to the hanging of Mariette Bosch. Bosch, a South African citizen who lived in Botswana, was hanged in Gaborone on March 31. Tienie Wolmarans, her husband, was refused permission to see her the day before her execution because "a raid was being carried out in the prison", which Pityana said "we now know to have been a lie". Pityana, who visited Botswana in his capacity as a member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights last week, said the Botswana government had given "no answers for the speed and the secrecy with which such a momentous event was carried out". "It would appear that the government was bent on effecting the execution so quickly that any effort to save her life would be in vain." Botswana President Festus Mogae's statement after the execution that he is "a retributionist by conviction" reminded Pityana of Jimmy Kruger's words that Biko's death left him cold, he added. Pityana said he found that ordinary Motswana had started questioning the circumstances surrounding the execution. "Many Motswana, whether or not they agree with the death penalty, are appalled at the manner in which the Bosch hanging was done. "People are proud of Botswana being a democratic country and it has a vision of being a caring and compassionate society. "Yet just about everything I came across from the government negated that. "It was just amazing how the execution of Bosch was strongly defended by the ministers I met," Pityana said. "Among the reasons they gave for the death penalty was that there is overwhelming support for it in Botswana." But, he said, government officials were "too enthusiastic in defending it and too emotional". "I think this reveals an underlying uncertainty about it." Thanks to IOL.co.za [ Top ] SA Navy's high-sea pirate drama The crew of a fishing boat carrying R6-million worth of Patagonian toothfish poached in Australian waters has been arrested off Cape Agulhas with the South African Navy's help, after being pursued across the high seas for 10 days. The vessel was intercepted on Thursday after it had been chased for 2 200 nautical miles by an Australian fisheries patrol boat which found it fishing in the southern ocean. The Togo-registered South Tommy is now being escorted back to Australia. A squad of 41 Australian army and navy personnel, flown to South Africa for the arrest, boarded the South Tommy in international waters 250 nautical miles from Cape Town on Thursday. The 50m boat, with a 44-man crew, was spotted illegally fishing toothfish in Australian waters off the Heard Island-McDonald Island group in the Southern Ocean of Antarctica on March 29. The South Tommy had on board 100 tons of highly prized and protected toothfish, catches of which are restricted by international treaty. Abrie Kampfer, captain of the South African Navy's survey vessel SAS Protea, described the part played in the arrest by his ship and the navy strike craft SAS Galeshwe. Speaking soon after the Protea docked in Simon's Town on Friday, he said: "The Australian civil fisheries control vessel Southern Supporter had shadowed the vessel since it was detected fishing illegally in Australian waters on March 29. "Southern Supporter ordered the fishing vessel to follow it back to Australia, but it turned and made away westward. The Australians decided that if they engaged in hot pursuit they would not catch up until they were close to South Africa, so they asked us for help. "An Australian Defence Force boarding party and fisheries personnel, commanded by Daryl Bates of the Royal Australian Navy, were flown to Cape Town from Perth. They joined us in Simon's Town and we sailed at 10am on Wednesday. We made the intercept at 11am on Thursday. "The name of the fishing vessel on the stern was covered up and it was not flying a flag. Galeshwe moved close to Southern Supporter as the Australians ordered it to stop. "The fishing vessel slowed and stopped. Galeshwe moved alongside and a party of Australian armed forces and fisheries protection personnel boarded the vessel and arrested it. There was no resistance. "We found the name of the vessel, South Tommy, on a small board on the bridge. The master and crew and all their baggage were transferred to Southern Protector by the SAS Protea's Alouette helicopter. Southern Supporter took the South Tommy in tow and they are now on their way to Fremantle, Australia, where they will face charges." South Tommy's master runs the risk of a R2-million fine and the vessel, with its sophisticated electronic equipment, could be forfeited. The operation was a fine example of how the South African navy could co-operate with other navies, said Kampfer. Bates said the joint exercise between the South African and Australian navies had been an outstanding success. "If you played rugby as well as you run your navy, you'd be world champions," he said, to a gale of laughter. Marcel Kroeser, Marine and Coastal Management representative on board the strike craft, said the South Tommy was fishing within the Australian exclusive economic zone off Heard Island, between Kerguelen island and the Australian mainland. He said the Australians had asked for help from the South African navy because the master of the Southern Supporter was reluctant to board a vessel whose crew could offer resistance. "Moreover they didn't want any legal complications arising from the arrest of the ship by a civilian crew," he said. "We went like hell in the strike craft, travelling at about 24 knots. Fortunately the weather was good. We met the Southern Supporter at first light on Thursday, about 250 nautical miles south of Cape Agulhas. "We waited for the SAS Protea to arrive, keeping out of visual and radar range of the South Tommy, about 16 nautical miles away from it. "When the Protea joined us, we approached the South Tommy and the Australians ordered it to heave to. "It slowed down and stopped. There was no resistance, although the South Tommy crew looked pretty glum." Patagonian toothfish is a valuable and highly endangered species which occurs only in deep cold water in the Southern Atlantic. It was estimated last year that the species would be completely fished out if illegal fishing was not stopped. French authorities have arrested at least 20 vessels, all carrying flags of convenience, for poaching toothfish in its economic exclusion zone. Thanks to IOL.co.za |
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