Environmental Issues in South Africa

Urbanisation and Industrialization have been very apperent in South Africa in recent years. With the discovery of luxurious resources such as diamonds and oil, man has virtually destroyed the ecology of South Africa. Every diamond mine and every oil rig has destroyed a very substantial amount of South African ecosystem. Pollution levels have increased by incredible margins. There are natural occurences that have been yearly air pollution problems ever since the starting of South Africa's existence. These are named veld fires. These are fires that occur by themselves in South Africa's dry season. It gets so dry that even a hot sunny day could start a fire. I'm not talking about house fires of course. Forest fires, farm fires and fires destroying lots of plantation and ommiting toxic gases, and smoke, into the atmosphere. That used to be the leading cause of pollution in South Africa. Not anymore. With the dicovery of oil came oil spills on the oceanic Southern border. Transportation of the goods and the man power became essential so cars, trucks, and buses became a necessity. The mining grounds had to be cleared of all plantation to facilitate digging destroying the ecosystem(trees ommiting oxygen, plants, and animal habitats.). So unfortunately racism, poverty, HIV/AIDs, and political problems aren't the only disfunctionalities of the country. Pollution is one now too.

South African Economical Issues

When you look at the average salary per capita in South Africa, its not substantial but it is ok. The average salary is approximately $10 500 a year. So not bad. If you just looked at that stat you could make the assumption that South Africa is a relatively well developped country. Unfortunately though there isn't a balance in South Africa. This is a picture of Johannesburg.(right). It is a very nice town and would remind you of big towns like Toronto or Montreal. This is the capital city of South Africa. It brings the most revenue to South Africa and has the more activity and industry going on than any other part of South Africa. It is also hosting the finals of the FIFA world cup later this year. So this town has had billions of dollars invested in it. Now lets take a look at a rural part of South Africa. Anyone can see that there is a little bit of inequality here. The sad thing is that most people who get to enjoy the luxuries of a rich South Africa are white, or asian. A huge percentage of the black population, natives live in run down excuses of houses like these. So just seeing this shows me that even though the average salary is $10 500, You can see that there are huge salaries, and then next to nothing salaries. There is no happy medium or middle class in South Africa. You're either filthy rich, or dirt poor.

2010 FIFA World Cup

As we all know, South Africa has made quite a big noise in the past. What with violent racism, terrible political battles, and all around insanity, the country has been headlined frequently. The country however has slowly but surely been resolving its issues and is now hosting something that all South Africans like. The 2010 FIFA world cup. There is nothing the people are more rabid and intense about than their love for soccer. Now that they have been selected, they have been outdoing themselves in order to impress the world. They are commiting themselves to make multiple brand new soccer stadiums and are revamping and renovating their old ones. This is a multi-billion dollar task and probably the biggest project ever for the nation. There will be ten stadiums in which the tournament will be played, the final being played of course in the nations capital Johannesburg. There will be one stadium in all of the bigger cities (all pictured right) ; Polokwane, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Nelspruit, Port Elizabeth, Rustenburg, and Pretoria. In Johannesburg there will be two stadiums. Ellis Park being the smaller one of the two, and the reknowned world famous project that has been in jepoardy of being finished in time for the world cup, Soccer City (pictured left). Soccer City is a brand new stadium concept drawn up by a brilliant south african architect that will hold the final game of the world cup. It is a massive stadium with a seating capacity of 114 500 people and when viewed from far away it looks like a tribal clay pot. This is going to be a huge upturn for South Africa's economy, and in the socialist stand point could go one of two ways. The problems in racism and mistrust will never be solved overnight, but maybe after enjoying something as big as this as a nation, together, the people might realise how lucky they are to be living in such a wonderful country, and try to make peace. The other occurence that would be entirely possible putting the insanity of the South African soccer fans, the home team might not do well leading to rioting and murder. This might sound preposterous but a few officials, a coach and even a few players have been killed in their homes after making a mistake by these same crazy fans. We wish the best for the nation and hope that this tournament has a good outcome.

Racism in South Africa

Racism has been an ongoing problem for many years in South Africa. South Africa is a vastly populated country (approx. 50 000 000 people) . Unlike many other african nations, South Africa has a reasonable percentage of white people. There is 75.6% Black population, 24.4% white people. The white population however has always maintained higher class than the black resulting in extremely biest government and terrible racial issues. It all started about 100 years ago. We all know about the cotton picking plantations in the southern United States, and how black people were exploited and used as slaves by white americans. Same goes for South Africa. South Africa was discovered as a huge diamond producing country. British men seeking wealth decided that if they moved to South Africa in search of diamonds, they would make a fortune. They did the same thing to the black nation, forcing them to do the dirty work in the mines, and enslaving them against their will. This was the starting of the distinction of class between the black population and the white population. There have been multiple occasions of murder, assualt, and discrimination between the blacks and the whites. It has been so bad that the UN was forced to send support to make peace between the two races. The problem has been solved more or less and the previously notriously dangerous country of South Africa has become a more safe place. Unfortunately however it is still majoritarely the white population that is industrious, with the black population following far behind. There is still the distinction of class between the white and black population and there are still incidents of violence that occur. For example on August 27, 2001 a black store owner named Wanda Stofburg was beaten by a white male. His reasoning was that Wanda's store was bringing too many black people into the town. This was a pure example of brutality for one simple cause. The color of someone's skin. The country has improved substantially and continues to improve. We don't know whether or not the blacks and whites will ever be able to completely accept, and work with each other, but we can only hope that they will. We can only hope that the color of someone's skin will cease being a problem in the future.