JULY 2009
Some 70,000 construction workers in South Africa have gone on strike, halting work on stadiums being built for the 2010 World Cup.
South African construction workers demonstrate at the start of a nationwide strike demanding higher wages outside Soccer City Stadium in Soweto (top and left) and Green Point Stadium in Cape Town
Unions are threatening to wreck the tournament if their demands for a 13% wage increase are not met.
The BBC's Mpho Lakaje in Soweto says scores of workers are outside Soccer City stadium wearing blue overalls and brandishing sticks.
At present most of the workers are being paid 2,500 rand a month.
"The government must help us, otherwise we are going to delay 2010. We will strike until 2011," AFP news agency quoted NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka as saying.
Five entirely new stadiums are being built for the World Cup, while five are being modernised.
Four of the five upgrades and a new stadium in Port Elizabeth are already finished. The strikers are also working on a new airport for the port city of Durban, power stations and work at the Gautrain site also stopped.
If the strike continues projects such as the high-speed rail link between the airport and Johannesburg will be of greater concern than the stadiums.
The rail-link is scheduled to be operational just two weeks before the tournament starts.
Strike violence erupted on Thursday in the coastal city of Cape Town, where striking workers outside a rail station under construction suddenly began stoning passers-by and cars, police Inspector November Filander said.
Police fired a stun grenade to disperse the workers, who then joined other strikers outside the half-built Green Point Stadium.
Work on the 68,000-seat stadium started late and progress has been slowed by two previous strikes.
About 200 protesters tried to get into the stadium, apparently to harass colleagues not respecting the strike. Police on horseback and on foot turned them away.
Related - World Cup: One year to go
JULY 2008
World Cup 2010 may be the financial answer to South Africa's prayers - but the workers earning R125 A DAY have other things on their minds.
They include coping with huge hikes in fuel, electricity and food prices whilst trying to live on a daily wage equivalent to a couple of cups of coffee in England.
There have been labour disputes at all the World Cup stadiums over the last 18 months.
And that has piled even more pressure on the organising committee as they try to convince FIFA they are on course for 2010.
Organising committee chief Danny Jordaan is coming under increasing pressure against a backdrop of crime, power cuts, security issues and transport concerns.
The official line is that all 10 stadiums are on target to be finished by the deadline of the end of 2009. But privately there are worries. Port Elizabeth's Nelson Mandela Stadium was supposed to be ready for the Confederation Cup but was been pulled.
And then there is the 45,000-capacity Mbombela.
Five miles west of Nelspruit, a pot-holed tarmac turn-off from the main road to Johannesburg is easy to miss. The road soon turns into a dirt track - and there, in the middle of rural settlements, is a concrete reminder that the footballing world is due to be heading this way in just 11 months.
Last July (2008) the cranes were silent as the National Union of Mineworkers, who represent the construction staff, thrashed out a new bonus deal and tried to sort out other grievances.
In angry clashes with police, strikers set fire to the security hut and also targeted cop cars.
Union spokesman Lesiba Seshoga is the first to condemn the violence. But as someone who has overseen negotiations at Cape Town's Green Point stadium, Durban's Moses Madhiba and the Nelson Mandela Stadium in PE, Seshoga is also determined to protect his members.
He will not allow workers to be forced into picking up their tools on the back of a vague threat that strike action could inflict terminal damage on the World Cup plans.
Seshoga said: "We welcome the World Cup but that doesn't mean we can be exploited. Why should workers be prepared to earn little?
"Workers should be getting something better - they should not be impoverished while millions are being spent on new stadiums.
"These workers are not going to benefit from the World Cup in that none of them will be able to afford to watch a game.
"We regret that there was violence but the workers were frustrated after months of broken promises.
"But why should we accept these conditions? We want FIFA to know our working conditions.
"We still believe that the stadiums will be completed in time."
The Mbombela Stadium is one of five new stadiums being built. But it is one of the more remote destinations, along with the Peter Mokaba Stadium at Polokwane.
Polokwane is a four-hour drive from Johannesburg, on the road to crisis-torn Zimbabwe. Refugees regularly gather there, increasing the chances of violence.
Again the ground is being built out of town, raising concerns as to how fans will actually get there.
Both Nelspruit and Polokwane have small airports, currently being upgraded. But accommodation is likely to be an issue, as well as the short journey to the grounds.
There is better news in the major cities. Green Point, in an upmarket area of Cape Town, has shot up in 2 years to suggest it will be completed in time.
Workers are operating flat-out at Durban's Moses Mabhida and the town has ambitious plans for a new railway station and airport.
In recent months South Africa has been hit by power cuts. But Jordaan has pledged to use generators to make sure that stadia and hotels do not suffer blackouts.
And he can at least deliver a stadium worthy of the World Cup final. Soccer City, on the south-western fringes of Johannesburg, is being totally revamped into a 94,000-capacity ground.
It will look like an African pot from the outside. Jordaan will be praying it turns out to be a pot of gold for the rainbow nation.
Source - http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article1442924.ece
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