South Africa’s football administrators are playing with fire regarding the potential for disaster at the Orlando Pirates/Kaizer Chiefs derby, as recent events when the sides met have shown.
Once again, this biggest sporting event on the country’s calendar — with some reports indicating it was likely the biggest football derby globally by attendance — was thrown into disarray.
It started 45 minutes late since many fans were still outside the stadium when the match had to start at 3pm, which is now a regular occurrence.
Once you have around 80,000 people converging on a venue — for any reason — you must take the matter seriously for various reasons such as security, stampedes and so on.
This situation is due to many factors, ranging from ticket sales mismanagement to the laxity of fans who have the terrible habit of arriving late at stadiums. But nothing seems to be done to seriously address this issue, as it arises every time the derby is held. Our complacency is frightening.
No-one wishes these unsavoury things to occur, but we must be realistic before another tragedy strikes
— Dr Thabisi Hoeane, Pretoria
Has the country forgotten the Ellis Park tragedy where more than 40 people died in a stampede during a match between these clubs in 2001? The Ngoepe commission was subsequently set up to look into that tragedy, and it made several recommendations, but the same thing seems very likely to happen more than 30 years later.
A subtext to this issue is the mixing of rival fans in the stands during the game, something unheard of globally when such intense rivals meet.
A cursory look at social media indicates that South African football fans say this is a sign of our maturity, as we do not tolerate hooliganism. This sounds good and something to be proud of, but unfortunately it’s a very pious observation, as football fans are an extremely fickle bunch.
The reality is that football hooligans still exist among those fans, and it takes a very small spark to ignite the whole stadium if something goes wrong.
No-one wishes these unsavoury things to occur, but we must be realistic before another tragedy strikes.
— Dr Thabisi Hoeane, Pretoria
Voters should note this
I give your paper a two-fisted thumbs up for two reasons:
- For maintaining political consistency in the Ideas section of your paper, I believe since its inception, if the letter to the editor by Beth Koller in Bessie Head’s novel Maru (published in 1971) is anything to go by.
- Addressing, through your investigative reporting, contemporary and present-day forces and issues faced by our people, reflecting without doubt that our fatherland is a failed state because of its directionless leadership.
What brought this to mind are three articles in your April 26 edition.
The first is your editorial opinion addressing the need for reform of the South African Police Service. This is because the SAPS is in the hands of criminals, earning extra income on top of the huge salaries and perks enjoyed by the top brass of our police force to ensure the maintenance of the rule of law and security for our people. Yet they compromise that very commitment to the rule of law.
Second, because of the probing, pertinent and definitely importunate questions posed by Barney Mthombothi to the post-apartheid presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. They dig up the source of our miseries and misfortunes as a nation to find personal closure for the afflicted and national closure for those who really care for our beloved fatherland.
The Jerry Boshoga kidnapping plot reflects a failed state in which criminals are acting with impunity in a country that is without the rule of law.
Finally, there is the article by Jacob Tseko Mofokeng, just below Mthombothi, on the deployment of the army at exorbitant cost to do police work. This, actually, is the article that resulted in this letter, after having read the editorial and the heart-chilling story of the kidnap plot against Boshoga.
Mthombothi’s article, for me, puts the finger on the source of our problems as a nation, and I quote him: “That is of course typical of Ramaphosa: he buckles easily at the slightest whiff of pressure.”
This being our national problem implies that the entire ANC is the source of our problem, and voters should note this.
Let your conscience help you make your mark at a spot that will help change our lives as South Africans, always keeping in mind we will not accept racism by any party in any way or form!
— Moikwatlhai Seitisho, Phuthaditjhaba
AI’ll definitely be back
Peter Bruce writes about how far the South African government is behind in recognising AI and its technological advances, which will shape the future world. Probably beyond our comprehension.
Perhaps James Cameron, the creator and director of several Terminator movies, was on to something as far back as 1984. The Terminator revolves around a robotic humanoid assassin sent back from the future by the AI that rules Earth, having either enslaved or wiped out mankind, to find and kill a waitress who will give birth to a hero who will save mankind from extinction.
Today, the possibility is real of AI ruling the world as we know it, in light of Bruce’s narrative: “AI tech will train itself, regardless of what it is asked to do.”
Very, very scary.
— Gordon Upton, Nelson Mandela Bay
SA’s haunting question
South Africa is living through a moment of profound unravelling, yet the voices that once shaped our national discourse have retreated into an unsettling quiet.
At a time when the country faces an unprecedented immigration crisis, one that is reshaping cities, straining public services and testing the limits of our constitutional order, the intellectuals, commentators and democratic custodians who once held power to account have fallen largely silent.
For millions of ordinary South Africans, the crisis is not abstract. It is felt in the erosion of safety in city centres, in neighbourhoods where law enforcement is overwhelmed, and in public institutions buckling under pressures they were never designed to carry.
The issue is not lawful migration. It is the scale and entrenchment of unlawful entry, unlawful residence and unlawful economic activity that have flourished in the vacuum created by weak border management, corruption and inconsistent enforcement
— Mpho Smart, legal practitioner and journalist
The constitution, a document born of hope and moral clarity, is increasingly invoked in ways that feel detached from its founding purpose. Instead of guiding principled governance, it is often used selectively to justify paralysis or to shield the state’s failures.
The issue is not lawful migration. It is the scale and entrenchment of unlawful entry, unlawful residence and unlawful economic activity that have flourished in the vacuum created by weak border management, corruption and inconsistent enforcement.
Joburg, once the City of Gold, offers a stark illustration. Iconic buildings have been overtaken by unregulated occupation. Informal economies operate with impunity. Health facilities, already strained, now face impossible caseloads. Schools in some districts struggle to accommodate local children.
Job markets, especially in low-skilled sectors, have become arenas of desperation. To raise these concerns is to risk being dismissed as xenophobic or anti-African. Yet no functioning democracy can sustain a situation where millions of people reside outside the legal framework, where refugee processes are circumvented, and where enforcement is so inconsistent that impunity becomes a norm.
The question that haunts many citizens is simple: why is this being allowed to continue?
— Mpho Smart, legal practitioner and journalist
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