World Cup 2010 - First blood flows

mindfactory · 25th November 2007, 09:37 PM

What is this ... poor security or organised crime?
Straler, may his soul find peace, is the first to die on South African soil. Tja, who is next and how many more to follow in his steps.

For a mobile device and portmonai, how terrible.

Shebeen · 25th November 2007, 10:04 PM

You must be referring to the murder of Peter Burgstaller. More here, including comments by Sepp Blatter who puts the murder into some perspective:

SOUTH AFRICA: Murder of ex-Austrian player shocks draw delegates

Uncle Paul · 26th November 2007, 12:35 AM

The violent death of any person is indeed regrettable, and there can be no excuse for it. Let us hope the authorities will arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of this heinous crime, and let us hope they will strengthen the security regime not only for the upcoming World Cup, but for everyone. But let us also not throw the baby out with the bath water. As Blatter rightly points out crimes happen all over the world. This year lone 23 teenagers were murdered in London, a city that prides itself on safety and security. Of course the murder rate in South Africa dwarfs the figure for London, but it is not as if we are comparing apples to apples.

Comrade_007 · 26th November 2007, 04:49 PM

BUT: Uncle Paul - it is a tragedy, I agree. But the problem is that it happens so often in SA, which remains one of the most violent societies in the world, with one of the highest murder rates. There is simply no point denying that. FIFA must be nervous if they throw a virtual security cordon around all the events. Can you believe it that they plan to put 33,000 police officers on the streets just for the World Cup? That's incredible, and it's fine for the people attending the events, but what about ordinary people? Where does that leave them? Sure, let's not throw the baby out with the bath water, but let us be honest about the situation: Crime remains out of control in South Africa 3 years before the event. Ask anybody in the big cities, and they'll tell you that it's actually getting worse. Again, no point pretending and denying that, is there? What also upsets me is that we don't hear about the countless victims of crime - South Africans with names and faces and family and friends. We only hear about it when foreigners are murdered. That ain't right! Where is the respect for our own people?

Pietro · 5th December 2007, 07:53 PM

Blatter saw his millions go bye-bye, so he quickly said it could happen anywhere. But this is Africa and people from "over there"still believe we are runninaround half-naked and will kill them for a bite to eat! In that vrespect the European are nearly as stupid (naive - if you want!) as the Americans

The Following User Says Thank You to Uncle Paul For This Useful Post:
mindfactory (28th November 2007)

The Following User Says Thank You to Comrade_007 For This Useful Post:
Oneword (26th November 2007)