Will South Africa be Ready for the 2010 World Cup?

I've been trying to work out whether I'm a lazy blogger or if I just get so busy that my head starts spinning and sort of goes into a loop. I was horrified when I looked at the date of the last blog post on this blog. I've been so busy blogging for others, and keeping the Vuvuzela blog up to date, that I just let this one slide out of view.

2010 FIFA World Cup - How Ready Are We Really ?

When I was watching Bafana Bafana play Germany last night I realised that our national soccer team is probably more ready for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, in spite of losing 2 - 0 than the South African tourism and hospitality industry.

And I'm trying very hard not to think about how the communications infrastructure is going to cope with 2010 - with all those visitors yapping away on mobile phones; typing on laptops (and netbooks) - eating up bandwidth - sending images, videos, live streaming...???

Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban

I'm sure our stadiums will be ready. Every time I drive past Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban my mouth hangs open because I can't believe the progress - it is almost like playing Sim City - you draw your mouse across a square and a building pops up.

So, Will South Africa be ready for 2010?

The one thing I know is that South Africans have quite a unique ability to rally in times of stress and crises and pull a rainbow of rabbits out of the hat. (Fortunately very few of us run away to Canada for political asylum! And they say Africa is not for sissies.)

And when we need to work under pressure; when we need to get together to rally under that multi-coloured flag - hey man, South Africans seem to put aside all their bickering and differences and work together as one.

So, in spite of all my unanswered questions, if anyone asks me, will South Africa be ready for the 2010 World Cup, I just have one word for them - well tow actually, well it only counts as one because the one means the sames other...

Yebo, Yes!

Jail Bird - Durban Metro Police Abuse Power at Amphi Market

People keep sending me pictures - here I am in the back of the police van - you cant see the handcuffs. At that stage I was more frightened than unhappy, although I always knew that the Metro Police and the SAPS had NOTHING to hold me on. I just took one picture of a police officer who would not identify himself. He did not have a badge on so I took the picture for identification.

I also don't understand why they had to break the trader's tables and incite violence. The Amphimarket at the Durban Beachfront is a "controlled environment" trades buy their space every week from the manager who is on duty all the time.

If the police had a problem, why did they even get into it with the traders - they were de facto employees of the market manager, Di Greenwood, so the cops should have spoken to her.

Durban Municipality Ombudsperson takes on Police Internal Investigation Duties

Statement by Dr. Michael Sutcliffe, City Manager: eThekwini Municipality:

At a meeting with senior management of Metro Police on Tuesday 10 July 2007, I conveyed a decision that I had taken that in future all internal investigations within Metro Police and Loss Control will be undertaken under the overall direction of the Office of the Ombudsperson and Head: Investigations.

The reason for this is to ensure good governance and ensure that Units are not themselves the ones who investigate matters concerning fraud, corruption and maladministration which have allegedly been conducted in their own units.

In the case of Internal Audit, previously residing in and reporting to the Head: Treasury, for example, I re-located them as a separate and independent Unit. This ensures and is seen to allow for better governance.

It is therefore not true that the Internal Affairs Unit has been closed down. All cases will now be dealt with and reported through the Office of the Ombudsperson. According to information provided to me, the Metro Police Internal Affairs Unit had 129 of the cases set aside for disciplinary action. Of the 129 cases 36 cases were related to fraud, corruption and or dishonesty. The other cases were related to misconduct, damage to council vehicles, AWOL and so forth.

The Office of the Ombudsperson and Head: Investigations deals with fraud, maladministration and corruption. All matters requiring administrative action are chanelled via this office to Head of Units who are expected to follow through on them. These matters are usually around service delivery inefficiencies, ineffectiveness and poor use of resources.

All matters which do not require simply administrative intervention and action are then addressed directly by the Office of the Ombudsperson and Head: Investigations. Upon completion of their work, recommendations are made which could result in criminal, civil or disciplinary charges being laid.

I would like to encourage members of the public to report all matters of maladministration, fraud and corruption to the Office of the Ombudsperson and Head: Investigation.

We utilize the services of Whisteblowers at the toll free number of 0800202020, the direct line is 031 3114002 and the fax is 031 3114115. Their physical offices are located at 41 Margaret Mncadi Ave, Durban 4001.

Durban International Film Festival Programme

The 28th Durban International Film Festival which runs from 20 June to 1 July has released its list of films and screening times and places. The Festival offers a selection of the finest in world cinema, spread over more than 300 screenings at 24 venues across the Durban district. It also provides an extensive programme of free workshops and seminars to inspire young filmmakers and stimulate the film industry in KwaZulu-Natal.

The festival opens on 20 June with the World Premiere of Darrell James Roodt's Meisie, a gentle and humane film set in a community on the peripheries of the Kalahari Desert. Roodt's Oscar-nominated Yesterday opened the festival in 2004. The festival's closing film is Guillermo del Toro's three time Oscar-winner Pan's Labyrinth, a visual masterpiece which straddles the fantastic and the tragic.

Some of the world's finest directors will have their new films presented at the festival including Aderrahmane Sissako (Bamako), Lars von Trier (The Boss Of It All), Zhang Yimou (Curse Of The Golden Flower), Rachid Bouchareb (Days Of Glory), Timur Bekmambetov (Day Watch), Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Dry Season), Nick Broomfield (Gho! sts), Bahman Ghobadi (Half Moon), Tsai Ming-Liang (I Don't Want To Sleep Alone), Ray Lawrence (Jindabyne), Nobuhiro Yamashita (Linda Linda Linda), Kenneth Branagh (The Magic Flute), Garin Nugroho (Opera Jawa), Jia Zhang-Ke (Still Life), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Syndromes And A Century), and Kim Ki-duk (Time).

Along with the established filmmakers, the festival will also present a range of striking works by new directors including 2 Days In Paris by Julie Delpy, Aachi & Ssipak by Joe Bum-jin, AFR by Morten Hartz Kaplers, Armin by Ognjen Svilicic, Bog Of Beasts by Claudio Assis, Cashback by Sean Ellis, Does It Hurt? - The First Balkan Dogma by Aneta Lesn! ikovska, Elvis Pelvis by Kevin Aduaka, Faces Of A Fig Tree by Momoi Kaori, Fourteen by Hirosue Hiromasa, Glue by Alexis dos Santos, On The Wings Of Dreams by Golam Rabbany Biplob, Paraguayan Hammock by Paz Encina, Playing The Victim by Kirill Serebrennikov, Princess by Anders Morgenthaler, Sankara by Prasanna Jayakody, The Sensation Of Sight by Aaron J. Wiederspahn, The Solution by Ivan Kavanagh, Tan Lines by Ed Aldridge, Taxider! mia by Gyorgy Palfi, The Un forgiven by Jong-bin Yoon, The Unpolished by Pia Marais and Vanaja by Rajnesh Domalpalli.

The festival once again presents, under the African Perspectives banner, the cream of the crop of new African cinema, including, from South Africa, Darrell James Roodt's Meisie and Prey, Khalo Matabane's When We Were Black, John Barker's Bunny Chow, Angus Gibson's Heartlines, and Kumaran Naidu's Broken Promises 2.

From the rest of Africa, the festival presents a range of films from the continent's most exciting filmmaking talent. Included in the selection are Bamako by Abderrahmane Sissako, Juju Factory by Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, Kinshasa Palace by Zeka Laplaine, Africa Paradise by Sylvestre Amoussou, Dry Season by Mahamet-Saleh Haroun, Ezra by Newton Aduaka and the Oscar-nominated Days Of Glory by Rachid Bouchareb.

Other themes and focus areas include: New Crowned Hope, a series of fascinating film commissioned as part of the 250th anniversary celebrations of the birth of Mozart, and focuses on Cinema of the Middle East, New Italian Cinema, Gay and Lesbian Cinema, New Danish Cinema, an Indian Ocean Islands Panorama, and a series of films on music. In addition, the festival presents the Poverty and Inequality Film Festival which is being presented alongside the Poverty and Inequality Challenge Conference.

The Wavescapes Surf Film Festival will return to DIFF with ripping hot surf screen action, and DIFF also hosts, for the first time, ICEBOX DBN, a collaborative festival of contemporary creativity in audio-visual art, with a focus on the electronic.

The issue-based documentary programme includes themes such as slavery, racism and the road to freedom, social and political matters, streetwise tales from the urban underground, films about the impacts of consumerism, and conscientising films about the environment.

World premieres of Peter McKenzie's What Kind? and Nikki Comninos's documentary series on the History of Cato Manor form part of the South African lineup alongside the multi-award winning The Mother's House by Francois Verster, Senzeni Na (What Have We Done) by Portia Rankoane, Counting Hea dz: Sistaz In Hip Hop by Vusi Magubane, and Unauthorised Mbeki by Ben Cashdan, Redi Direko and Meril Rasmussen - the first public screening of the Thabo Mbeki biography that was pulled off air by the SABC last year.

Also included are two Tribeca winners We Are Together (Thina Simunye) by Paul Taylor, and The Cats Of Mirikitani by Linda Hattendorf. Sure to generate interest are In Debt We Trust: America Before The Bubble Bursts by Emmy-winning journalist Danny Schechter, Operation Filmm aker, a cross-cultural endeavour dramatically captured by Nina Davenport, the provocative What Would Jesus Buy? by Rob Van Alkemade, a musical journey with a difference Youssou N'dour: Return To Goree by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud, and critique-laden Americ! a The Beautiful by Darryl Roberts, which features teen supermodel Gerren Taylor who will also participate in the MTN Durban Fashion Week.

Special music events include the Durban Film Office (DFO) Youth in Film Music Concert on 23 June featuring Prokid, Sliko and others. The Agape Orphanage Choir will sing at the screenings of the film We are Together. Oreka Tx from Spain present live demonstrations of the extraordinary Basque instrument the txalapartha at the screenings of their film Nomadak TX; and also perform at the Wavescapes finale as does Farryl Purkiss.

A ticket to the Awards Ceremony and Closing Film also accesses you to the DIFF closing party which features special guest band ! Omar Pene from Senegal (their only performance in Durban). Keep an ear to the ground for other music happenings during the festival.

Principal screening venues are Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre; Nu-Metro CineCentre SunCoast; Ster Kinekor Musgrave, Cinema Nouveau screened by Jameson Gateway; Ekhaya Multi-Arts Centre in KwaMashu; KwaSuka Theatre, and the BAT Centre, with further screenings in township areas where cinemas are non-existent.

Programme booklets with the full screening schedule and synopses of all the films are available free at cinemas, Computicket, and other outlets from the first week of June. Full festival details can also be found on www.cca.ukzn.ac.za or by calling 031-2602506, 2601650 or 260 1704.

Organised by the Centre for Creative Arts (UKZN) the Durban International Film Festival is funded by National Film & Video Foundation, National Lottery Distribution Fund, HIVOS, Stichting Doen, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, and the City of Durban, with valued support from a range of other partners

Durban: Deadline for Proposals on Street Renaming Extended

The eThekwini Municipality’s Masakhane, Grants-in-Aid, Non-Racism, Non-Sexism and Non-Discrimination committee has extended the deadline for submissions of comments on the city’s renaming policy to 23 June 2007.

At a multi-party meeting today, the committee agreed that the public be allowed a further period of 30 days to submit comments and proposals on the renaming of streets and buildings in the city.

The decision comes after weeks of intense public debate after the Council released a list of proposed name changes which came after a month-long consultative process.

Council Speaker James Nxumalo said a bilateral meeting with different political parties yesterday had led to the recommendation to extend the deadline.

“We want to ensure that the process is participatory, something we have tried to ensure from the start, and therefore urge the public to send their comments and proposals which will then be reviewed by our Task Team.”

Councillor Zandile Gumede who chairs the Masakhane Committee said: “In addition to the 181 proposals already received, the public, ward committees and political parties will be given a chance to submit new proposals.”

She said that although the deadline for submissions had been 31 May 2007, this had been extended after it was found that many people had not been aware that they could submit proposals for the renaming and that ward committees had been newly formed at the time and were therefore not sufficiently consulted on the process.

Opposition parties at council welcomed the extension but voiced concern on the procedure of the renamings.

“A lot of the problems had to do with the rushed manner but we support the recommendation to extend the deadline,” said DA caucus leader John Steenhuisen.

Gumede said the ANC was not going to use its majority at council to unfairly disadvantage minority parties.“The process is not being bulldozed. All concerned persons were given opportunities to participate and we are now ensuring that they are being given a further chance to make submissions,” she said.

All comments and new proposals are to be sent to City Manager Michael Sutcliffe.

Off The Wall in Durban

ArtSpace, Durban - that gallery off Umgeni Road - behind Waste Centre is truly becoming a home from home for the unheard voices - the independents - next Monday 7 May at 6:30pm they are inviting all ART, GRAFFITI & COMIX-LOVIN’ FRIENDS to PULL IN FOR

OFF THE WALL 2

OFF THE WALL 2 features more than 20 artists, both established and up-&-coming, including (at last count): Zapiro, Rico, Themba Siwela, Wesley van Eeden, Jason Bronkhorst, Ewok, Alastair Findlay, Ben Hodson, Tyron Love , N.D.Mazin, Jeff Rankin, Andrew Mogridge, Mogorosi Motshumi, Jeremy Nel, Mike Scott, Wild Beast, Luke Molver, Leonora van Staden, Senyol, Scott Siveright, Ross Turpin, Adelle O’Connell, Thabani Gumede, Andrew Schnetler, Alastair Laird, and Unknown Graf Writers…

SKETCHBOOK VIEWINGS: The artists’ original sketchbooks will be displayed behind glass at the opening event. But for those who wish to browse through these original works of art, the artists will be showing their sketchbooks at the gallery during the day on Monday 7 May, before the exhibition opening. Thereafter, the sketchbooks may be viewed at the gallery on request and under supervision for the duration of the exhibition.

RESPONSIBLE GRAFFITI PROJECT: Cape Town street art guru Senyol and Durban graf-X ranter Ewok will be running a “Responsible Grafitti” workshop in the gallery on Sunday, 6 May. The mural art produced on that day will be on exhibition for the duration of the show.

THE SKETCHBOOK PROJECT: Most of the work on exhibition will relate back to the sketchbook pages the participating artists have been posting onto this blog since November 2006.


3 Millar Road (off Umgeni next to Waste Centre)
Durban 4001
Tel: 031-312-0793
artspace_durban@yahoo.com
Gallery Hours: Monday - Friday 10am - 4pm Saturday and Public Holidays 10am -1pm