₦airaland Forum

Anyone who watches Idols South Africa?I know it's at its early stages but this is where I find it interesting,there are lot of clowns and some people who cant sing but believe they can.And I find Randal Abraham,one of the judge entertaining.What do you guys think?

Ellyptical:
Mpele,
If one should filter out the black part of SA, they are not just 3rd world, they are 5th world.
1) High illiteracy -illiteracy rate higher than Nigeria and Ghana
2) High crime rate - Crime rate higher than Nigerian and Ghana.
3) Poor empowerment - Mainly menial wokers with little or nor intellectual prowess unlike Nigerians and Ghanaians
4) High teenage pregnancy rate.
5) Highest HIV population in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!!!! . . .Can you beat that!!!!
Can I hear you say First-World Again?
All the characteristics of the Black Populace of SA are typical of 3rd world nations. Permit me to say they are even worse!
Remove the whites and Somalia would be better than SA.
Since you refuse to recognize the people who stood by you in apartheid ,the consequences of ingratitude is already befalling you people!
may you not end up worse than other African nations!

You are talking crap you don't know shit about south africa,education is by far the most important thing for this goverment and it is free,it is in our constitution that every child have a right to education,so the illitiracy shit is a myth,even the adult have special educational programmes they attend after work.All students pass their final school exams with university entrance marks are guranteed a goverment bursary to study at home or abroad.

Yes HIV is a problem,yes crime is a problem,and we are working on finding the solution,and I know we will.
White will never leave south africa it is thier home and they are our brothers,we made peace with them and are moving forward.They are better and closer brothers than Nigerians,I will rather die for a white south african than Nigerian.
Whatever you guys did for Mbeki and his friend don't concern us,during aapartheid days I for one never recieved a food parcel from Nigeria(beside why would you send food to us while your people where starving?it beat me.)

We all know that Nigerians feels like Jamaicans,ghananians,african americans,kenyans are jealous of them so south africa with all her continuing successes is not exempt.
Come to South Africa if you want to see how organised we are as a nation.Stop coming up with stories that will make you feel better about being in that banana federation.Get a freaking life.

Three of those 4 accused are from Zimbabwe,only one guy is South African.Maybe the guy was right in saying he didn't know that the guy was Lucky Dube,because he is not a local.

Any information on Egypt readiness,or picture of their stadiums?

Orlando Stadium in Soweto

Orlando Stadium in Soweto

Ok now I going to show some of the stadiums that are not going to host fifa world cup matches but will be used as tranning ground,we will start with the stadia in the middle of Soweto,its a home to Moroka Swallows
Ladies and gentlemen I present to you Orlando Stadium

Here is capetown,Greenpoint stadium

More on Durban

hollandis:
@RSA How did you get the pics.Are you a bricklayer,cement carrier or just plain jobless?

The answer is JOBLESS
Any way here are Pics of Durban,it is called Moses Mhabida stadium

This atricle was written by a Nigerian

Are We Really The Giant Of Africa?

Sam Nda-Isaiah
January 11th, 2009

I have just returned from a vacation in South Africa that saw me traversing Johannesburg, Cape Town and the magical Sun City. South Africa is a First World country built by the whites but which has been maintained, improved and constantly renewed by the black ANC-controlled government since 1994. They were lucky to have had Nelson Mandela as the first post-apartheid black president and not Robert Mugabe or Olusegun Obasanjo. Mandela who once declared that "courageous people do not fear forgiving" laid a rock-solid nationalist foundation based on the principles of true democracy, predicated on free and fair elections, rule of law and justice. He insisted on spending only one term as a sacrifice for the growth of democracy and statecraft in the country he loves so much. That is why when the man (or to him, the boy) he groomed to succeed him got too close to Obasanjo and in the process picked up a few bad manners and wanted to remain in power and reckoning beyond his brief, he was humbled at his party's convention and subsequently thrown out as the nation's president. And everything was done according to the rule of law and due process.

There are still crimes and hooliganism in the country. In fact, South Africa is renowned for its violent crimes, but the difference with Nigeria is that you could see the government spending sleepless nights trying to solve the problem. These days, there are installed cameras and CCTVs everywhere, especially in the crime-infested areas, to spot criminals. And, in more than 90% of cases, those who perpetrate crimes are apprehended. Robbers and assassins are taken into custody almost on a daily basis. In Nigeria, a serving minister of justice was assassinated seven years ago but, as I write, the authorities are not even looking for the criminals. Bola Ige is only one of numerous examples. There are also the cases of Sa'adatu Rimi, Marshal Harry, Aminosoari Dikibo and a host of others. Maybe, another difference between the reality of crime in Nigeria and South Africa is that the people that are supposed to be searching for and apprehending criminals are the same people that are perpetrating the crimes.

Another thing. There is no large water source in Johannesburg, so the city sources its water supply from a neighbouring country. In spite of that, all the taps gush with water with the kind of pressure that we in Nigeria can only imagine. There are no potholes at all on any of their roads, and, everywhere you go, there are ongoing new projects. Less than two years ago, the government decided to build a new rail line. By June this year, it will be completed and you see the efforts to complete it everywhere you go. They are constructing larger and more sophisticated stadia – bigger than the disposal one Obasanjo built in Abuja, but at even less the cost. They are constructing the stadia in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, and you see work going on day and night. There are no abandoned projects in South Africa and contractors are not owed.

And, as we all know, a black majority government has been in place for 15 years. Since then, the economy has grown exponentially so much so that the Rand, the local currency, has not only maintained its convertibility, it has even become stronger. Their priority in education is covetable. Less than two weeks ago, the results of their secondary school certificate exams were released and the entire country has been engrossed with the progress or otherwise that their leaders of tomorrow are making. Newspapers and TV stations are discussing the results on a daily basis. They are currently busy assessing the performance of their children in critical subjects like Mathematics and the sciences. As a Nigerian onlooker, I was both impressed and depressed. Impressed at the purposefulness of a fellow African country, and depressed that my country has not even enlisted in the global race for the future.

A few weeks ago, South Africa's minister of health was ill and had to seek medical attention, but she dared not attend her regular private hospital much less travel to Germany or Saudi Arabia for treatment. In Nigeria, the president travels out on a regular basis to seek medical attention in hospitals in foreign countries without the slightest courtesy of even informing Nigerians. Meanwhile, all the public hospitals in Nigeria have now become places people only go to die. And why not? For almost one year last year, the nation had no minister of health.

In South Africa, every day you read the newspapers you see how the government is frantically responding to the global financial crisis. Nigeria is doing nothing because those in power are living under the self-delusion that Nigeria is "not affected by the crisis". Meanwhile, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has all but collapsed.

But all that does not even begin to explain why I am sad at the moment. As our aircraft made to land at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, at the weekend, the entire city was without power supply. And as we drove to our hotel to spend the night before leaving for Abuja the following day, only the few houses that had generators had power supply. The whole of Lagos was in pitch darkness. But that's only the beginning of the story.

When I called my friend who had also just returned from his own vacation from, of all places, Liberia to tell him my ordeal, he was even angrier than I was. Throughout the one week he spent in Monrovia, the Liberian capital, he said, there was no power outage, even though the country had just emerged from a devastating internecine war. He said on his way back, they flew across a few African countries including Ghana, and because it was at night, they saw the glow of light bulbs in all the countries they flew across until they got to Nigeria. As they landed in Lagos, the entire city, Nigeria's commercial capital, was without electricity.

Nigeria is probably the only country in the world that is still in pitch darkness and getting worse. And this is after Obasanjo had spent $16 billion in eight years on the sector. And, as if that was not bad enough for me, another friend who had read my column two weeks ago – where I said, "Nigeria is regressing and sinking so fast that many of us may soon be spending vacation in backwater countries like Niger Republic" – called me. He told me that I was not even current enough. He and his family had just returned from a vacation in Niger Republic where they had peace and a hell of a good time. And he added, "There was no power outage throughout the period we were there."

That also reminded me of Col. Dangiwa Umar's brilliant letter to former President Obasanjo a few years ago. He told Obasanjo in the letter that he travelled by land to Niger Republic via Sokoto. He knew he had left Nigeria when the road suddenly became smooth without a hint of potholes. That, of course, was after Obasanjo had spent N350 billion "constructing roads".

The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines delusions of grandeur as "the belief that you are much more important than you really are". No, Nigeria is not the giant of Africa, unless we are suffering from a classical case of delusions of grandeur. But we have what it takes to become one in the shortest possible time. We are a relatively well-educated, sophisticated and confident people. We are indisputably the intellectual hub of Africa. But we have allowed crooks and rogues to take over our commonweal for far too long. And it is not the fault of those rogue leaders. It is our collective fault. They would not be in power, if it were not with our consent.

http://leadershipnigeria.com/news/12, 009-01-11.html

Old news,come up with something original.

folem:
http://deathofjohannesburg..com/

The Death of Johannesburg

In the 10 years since the Johannesburg Inner City Renewal Strategy was launched by then Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, the City of Gold has indeed experienced a rebirth.

The Johannesburg Development Agency recently honoured those investors whose efforts have seen some of the city’s most derelict and polluted spaces being transformed into attractive, functional and safe developments.

Among the evening’s winners at the city’s inaugural Halala Awards were the Brickfields Housing Project and Ghandi Square.

At the time of its launch in 2005, the R98,7-million Brickfields project was the largest ever public-private partnership in housing development in South Africa, and the first residential development in Joburg's inner city in 30 years.

The Brickfields' developer, Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC), took home the Lower Income Developer: Not Houses but Homes Award for its housing development of 345 one to three bedroom units.

On site amenities include a crèche and an after-school centre which in total accommodate over 100 children who live in Brickfields and the surrounding area.

Managed by the JHC’s non-profit subsidiary Makhulong a Matala, the facilities form part of the JHC’s objective to stimulate economic empowerment of women and young adults in urban communities by investing in early childhood development through education and related activities.

The after school centre is run by qualified teachers and offers a safe and controlled environment where children can do their homework while their parents are still at work. Facilities include desks and chairs, educational games and a mini-library.

Speaking at the launch of Brickfields in 2005, President Thabo Mbeki said, “The Brickfields Housing project is a tangible expression of how the worldwide phenomenon of decaying inner cities, can, through sustainable urbanisation, be transformed into peaceful, better havens and friendly neighbourhoods.”

Ghandi Square, developed by Olitzki Property Holdings, took home the Relaxing and Playing Joburg: The Recreation Destination Award.

The historical square was once home to Johannesburg’s first law courts (1893), at which stage it was known as Government Square. It later housed the Eskom building and in 1948 became known as Van Der Byl Square, after Eskom’s first chairman. During this time the square also became home to the city’s biggest bus terminal, a purpose it still serves today.

Having seen the square degenerate into a mess of vacant derelict buildings, inhabited by vagrants and criminals between heaps of litter, Gerald Olitzki, a lawyer turned property developer, began to invest in his dream in revamping the square.

In 1999 it was renamed Ghandi Square and it was soon after this that Olitzki’s dream began to turn into a reality.

There are now more than 40 high-quality retail tenants in the Square catering for the upmarket and trendy tastes of the more than 240 000 people who visit the Square on a daily basis. Among the tenants are McDonalds, Steers, Sandwich Baron, Spar, Something Fishy, Capellos and a Keg. “There is huge demand for retail space, for high-quality retail, pubs and restaurants of the finest kind,” says Olitzki. 

“What he (Olitzki) saw and what others didn’t see at the time was that there is a tremendous market of people who are in the inner city and want to be in the inner city, both in the commercial space, as well as commuters and residents around the inner city who need retail service," said Lael Bethlehem, CEO of the Johannesburg Development Agency. "Where you create decent retail space, people will fill it.”

The Halala Awards were launched in September 2007 with a call to the public to nominate regeneration projects that deserved to be recognised for their extraordinary contribution to transforming the inner city. More than 80 different projects were nominated. Winners were announced at a Gala Dinner held at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg, last week

http://www.sagoodnews.co.za/general/joburg_honours_inner_city_regeneration_investors.html

http://www.thedplg.gov.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=143&Itemid=36

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=563&fArticleId=2891841

LAUNCH OF JOHANNESBURG (INNER CITY) URBAN RENEWAL STRATEGY: ADDRESS BY THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT THE HON. MR THABO MBEKI
Johannesburg City Hall, 17 July 1997

Master of Ceremonies,

Today we are assembled in the centre of a great city - the city of Johannesburg. Like to all great things, give tribute to where tribute is due. This is a city to which outstanding musician Hugh Masekela paid bitter tribute.

"There is a train that comes from Namibia and Malawi
there is a train that comes from Zambia and Zimbabwe,
There is a train that comes from Angola and Mozambique,
From Lesotho, from Botswana, from Zwaziland,
From all the hinterland of Southern and Central Africa.
This train carries young and old, African men
Who are conscripted to come and work on contract
In the golden mineral mines of Johannesburg
And its surrounding metropolis, sixteen hours or more a day
For almost no pay.
Deep, deep, deep down in the belly of the earth
When they are digging and drilling that shiny mighty evasive stone,
Or when they dish that mish mesh mush food
into their iron plates with the iron shank.
Or when they sit in their stinking, funky, filthy,
Flea-ridden barracks and hostels.
They think about the loved ones they may never see again Because they might have already been forcibly removed
From where they last left them
Or wantonly murdered in the dead of night
By roving, marauding gangs of no particular origin,
We are told. they think about their lands, their herds
That were taken away from them
With a gun, bomb, teargas and the cannon.
And when they hear that Choo-Choo train
They always curse, curse the coal train,
The coal train that brought them to Johannesburg".

Despite the truth told in these words, this city, Johannesburg, like Cairo in Egypt and Lagos in Nigeria, is one of the great cities of Africa.

For a century, it has stood at the heart of the process of the birth of our nation. Built by both black and white hands, it constitutes a tribute to the industriousness of all our people, their creativity, their spirit of enterprise.

It stands at the heart of the birth of our nation, because it attracted to itself all our people, regardless of language, culture, colour, gender and ethnic origins.

Thus it can be said, that Johannesburgers were among the first modern South Africans, who could speak one another's languages, enjoy one another's cultures, and blend their localised origins with the great character of one South African nation.

As the eloquent words of Hugh Masekela indicate, Johannesburg is the product, not only of the people of the city but of South Africa and the entire "hinterland of Southern Africa".

From this point it follows that the renewal of the city should also mean a renewed relationship with the people who have contributed to this city's growth and development.

It is our understanding that the concept of the city encompasses all communities which contribute to its growth and to its prosperity. Those are the communities who should be the main beneficiaries of that renewal, growth and prosperity.

In the case of Johannesburg, the extent of the significance of this point is multiplied many times over.

The broader perspective to the challenges which face this city is instructive for several reasons.

Firstly, the economy, life and culture of Johannesburg is impacted upon, and in turn impacts upon, not only on national life, but also in the life of the entire Southern African region. The experience of this city and the region with the migratory labour system is a graphic example of this interdependence.

The social, economic and cultural renewal of the city will depend on the success of the renewal of our social, economic and cultural relations with the people of the region. As a result our work will be greatly enhanced if it is in tandem and harmonised with our national and regional programmes.

Secondly, the success of our renewal strategy depends on the success of our policy of reconciliation, national and regional unity, as well as social and political stability. Johannesburg needs a nation and a region of mutual trust, peace and well-being.

Thirdly, it is important for us to realise that, to a large degree, the current border conflicts and tensions in some parts of our country, derive mainly from uneven socio-economic development between different areas of our country.

The confounding factor is that most of our provincial boundaries coincide with the geography of ethnic concentration.

Speaking in this truly African city, we must make the point that we should, at all times guard against the danger of pursuing regional or provincial interests in a manner which poses the danger of turning these differences into antagonistic ethnic, racial, regional or provincial conflicts in the course of the scramble for limited resources.

We believe that an important aspect in our renewal and our celebration of this day is the need to make a total commitment that the past and all its horrors shall never happen again and that the bad legacies of that past which are still evident in the larger city shall be eliminated with the greatest possible speed.

The arrival of the democratic order, with its opening to free economic activity, the freedom of movement by the people, has emphasised the point that all of us share a common South African existence and a common economic resource.

Irrespective of colour, race, ethnicity or creed, indeed all of us belong to a single neighbourhood.

Master of Ceremonies,

The economic experience of the city of Johannesburg has also brought to sharp focus the fact that it is risky to build and anchor your economy on a reservoir of diminishing natural resources and potentially volatile commodity markets.

For this reason, part of the renewal strategy should entail diversification and shifting resources steadily from the extraction and procession of primary products, to the production of competitive manufactured goods and services as a basis of our economy as we enter the 21st century, which will, in part, be defined by the impact of the revolution in information and communication technology.

Master of Ceremonies,

The changing international economic flows in production, finance and service industries has also necessitated a paradigm shift in the way in which cities structure their economies.

The greater mobility of human resources and economic activities within and between countries has engendered greater competition for investment between cities across the globe, beyond the confines of national borders.

We see the strategy of the renewal of the city of Johannesburg as constituting an important element of our national Masakhane campaign. The Cabinet has declared the 1st to the 7th of September, this year as the National Masakhane Week.

I take this opportunity to call on the nation - in our localities, in the schools, prisons, government structures, civic organisations, the private sector, sport and cultural bodies, etc, to take part in a campaign which should help us develop an outlook which is in line with the kind of society we are trying to create, consistent with the demands of service to the people and which is conscious of our collective responsibility to our shared existence.

Masakhane is not simply about paying for services but it is about rediscovering our oneness as South Africans who appreciate and understand our shared democratic rights as well as our social obligations.

Master of Ceremonies,

Today the city of Johannesburg is experiencing it s rebirth. Today Johannesburg is placing the people at the centre of its philosophy. Those people who have, all their lives placed their brains and their brawn to its service, should be the first beneficiaries of its renaissance.

We are talking of the street-child who has given it its survival instinct, the street vendor who has given it its informality, the aged whose vitality it has tamed but not vanquished, the investor who has given it its industry and the worker who has seen it grow from a paupered dwarf to an economic giant.

We can now all look forward to a day not too far, when the sound of a Choo-Choo train will make none of us curse the coal train which brought them to Johannesburg.

Indeed, this renewal should mean that we all begin to own the city of Johannesburg and the fruits it is going to bear, because the contribution of all of us in its renewal, its growth, its prosperity is recognised as indispensable.

It should not be that a poor worker who burrows out of a mine shaft, the workers forced to live in squalid conditions in the HIllbrow flatland is driven to ask the questions the poet Bertold Brecht posed:

"Who built Thebes of the Seven Gates? In the books you will find the names of kings. Did the king haul up the lumps of rock, Where, the evening that the Wall of China was finished Did the Masons go? Great Rome is full of triumphant arches. Who created them?"

On behalf of our president, Nelson Mandela, I bring you the warm greetings of the national government of our democratic Republic and its commitment to side by side with you as you resuscitate the heart of the city of Johannesburg.

http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/mbeki/1997/sp970717.html

Soccercity

Soccercity

To me this game was just a friendly,there was nothing to play for.But well done to Nigeria if that will make you feel better.Meet you at the world cup.

davidylan:
yeah "peace" to the world indeed. With soaring crime rate in SA, violence in Congo, genocide in Darfur, unending problems in Afghanistan, lawlessness in Somalia . . . sure piss to the world.

Listen,criminals in south africa don't rape,steal,murder in God's name,they are criminals and they know that.the war in Congo is not about God,nobody kills for god there,its about resources and america your ally is partly to blame.all the country you mentioned don't go killing people because they are the chosen nation.I don't know much about history but Israel time will come.and as we say in south "die poppe sal danse"

davidylan:
Wait and see . . . when more powerful missiles rain on Ashkelon or Tel Aviv, Gaza will be nothing but ruins with Netanyahu in power.

Which "God" is taking control of Gaza by the way? Seems the Jewish God is firmly awake and guiding his people.

Tell that god,that he is senseless,stupid,don't deserve the name god.If your god tell you to go and kill innocent souls then I don't want him or hear about him.
I thought God is about peace,love,forgiving and caring.I though the bible and torah says god is love and if indeed is love why the israel are massacring the innocent because god is in their side?
Davidylan fukc your god.Peace to the world

At least we meeting ghana,who have a team that look like under 20,even if they've cheated atleast they've cheated with 22 year olds unlike Nigerians who went for 28 year olds.Iam happy that they are meeting cameroon who have brought in their senior team ,have you notice that their 16 years old gaolkeeper can throw a ball to the other goalie with one hand?
Nigeria vs cameroon is a match made in heaven,I called the "battle of cheaters".
I would not mind loosing to ghana,for us is not about winning the tournatment,it is about development,winning sometime is not everything.Esspecially when countries like Nigeria cheats.

That is why our game plan is to make them tired,cause they are older.then push hard on the last 20 mins,by that time they cant even run,the beauty of youth

Book your sit now

Today mark 500 days to go to the finals

With 500 days remaining to the world cup this is the update of where we are,this are the only new stadiums.Confedation cup won't be played in this stadiums