Let's keep up the standards of service delivery, public transport - ZILLE

Zille said "immutable deadlines" now needed to be set up in terms of addressing South Africa's social problems.

"If we can learn this lesson from the World Cup, and apply it in a way that does not erode democracy, it will have been more than worth it."

SHOOT: It shows you that we can up our game when it comes to policing and enforcing, and also, we must.

clipped from www.sport24.co.za Johannesburg - The lessons of the FIFA Soccer World Cup can be used to improve the justice system and service delivery, Democratic Alliance Leader Helen Zille said on Sunday. "The lessons of the World Cup extend far beyond sport," she said, citing the example of the 56 dedicated courts set up to deal with cases for the sporting spectacular. "The results have, apparently, been astounding. "Within four days of kick-off, 20 cases had been brought before the special courts and four finalised. At this rate, the special World Cup courts will finalise five times more cases per month than normal courts." Zille said an equally "dramatic" example of rapid delivery was the less than four years it took to build the Cape Town stadium. "In contrast, a proposed housing development, initiated at the same time as the stadium, is unlikely to be completed until 2013." Zille said the difference lay with the fact that for these projects there was an "unchangeable deadline".

During SWC South Africa's infrastructure fails

The government has urged fans to avoid road congestion by using public transport, which received a R40bn upgrade ahead of the tournament.

SHOOT: There's not much in the news about aggrieved fans stranded until 3am on trains with no electricity but you can bet it was a miserable experience. Yes we built stadiums, but we were really ready to host these games when we can't even keep the lights on?

clipped from www.sport24.co.za Metrorail trains were forced to switch from electric to steam locomotives because of the power cut, delaying the last two trains by between two and three hours with the last fans only arriving at 03:30, said Tumisang Kgaboesele, head of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa. "We are very concerned. We have already apologised to our customers," he told AFP. Metrorail ferried 13 600 people to and from Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld stadium on Wednesday for the Group A match. South Africa suffered national blackouts in January 2008 that raised alarms about the nation's ageing electricity system. The 10 World Cup stadiums each have generators to ensure power supplies during matches.

Strong Earthquake Rocks Johannesburg

SHOOT: Crazy!

clipped from www.news24.com Johannesburg - An earthquake that measured 4.3 on the Richter scale was felt along the West Rand and parts of Johannesburg on Monday afternoon, the Council for Geosciences said. The quake, recorded just before 14:00, was relatively stronger than those usually measured along the mining belt, seismologist Ian Saunders said.

Crime in South Africa during the #Fifa World Cup - so far

SHOOT: The most shocking is that while Uruguay is playing their game, their stuff is being swiped in their hotel rooms. Disgusting. These hotels must also be reported and blacklisted after the game.

clipped from www.sport24.co.za Cape Town - The Mother City's special World Cup Magistrate's Court dealt with its first three cases this week, including a theft from a Japanese tourist in a police station, police said on Thursday. The theft took place at the Caledon Square station in the city centre on Tuesday, police head of 2010 operations in the Western Cape, Major-General Robbie Roberts, said. "The tourist was in the CSC (community service centre) in Cape Town police station and he left his bag unattended. "He went up to the third floor and when he returned, he found that his bag was gone." clipped from www.news24.com Journo robbers jailed for 15yrs A Nigerian and a Zimbabwean man have been jailed for 15 years for robbing three foreign journalists in Magaliesburg. Chinese journalists robbed Uruguay team robbed at hotel 6 held for robbing soccer fan Six people who allegedly robbed a hotel in Mpumalanga and held up a Chilean soccer fan have been arrested in White River, police say.

Warm-up match stampede a wake-up call

"We have security plans that are there," said Col. Hangwani Mulaudzi, another police spokesman. "I think this is one of those isolated cases where we did not anticipate the large number of people who would be interested in this game."

SHOOT: I think SA will be caught napping in a bunch of areas, unfortunately. It's not really a 1st world country any more.

clipped from news.yahoo.com JOHANNESBURG – No one was killed. Most of the injuries were minor. Yet a stampede at a supposedly low-key warm-up match set off alarms for World Cup organizers as they reassessed their plans for keeping fervent sellout crowds under control. Hopes for a safe tournament remain high, officials said Monday. But the scary incident at a Nigeria-North Korea exhibition match was a stark reminder of past stadium disasters, in Africa and elsewhere, that have been one of soccer's recurring and deadly legacies. "This is like an alarm clock," FIFA president Sepp Blatter said. "This will not happen in any match of the World Cup — you can be assured." In Orkney, South Africa, 42 fans were killed in a melee and stampede at a 1991 match between the archrival Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs. Ten years later, when those same teams met at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, 43 people were killed and 155 injured as fans — many arriving without tickets — tried to push into the overcrowded stadium.

41 prisoners escape South African prison - most ever

SHOOT: I'm sure tourists will be very reassured by this. South Africa is an incredibly safe country with decent police and government officials - NOT!

clipped from www.buanews.gov.za Pretoria - A mass escape by prisoners at the Harrismith Correctional Centre on Monday has led to the summarily dismissal of two Correctional Services officials who were linked to the escape. The dismissals follow a prompt fact finding visit to the facility by Correctional Services Minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula - following an escape last night of 41 awaiting trial detainees. According to the department, Monday's escape was the biggest single escape from a correctional facility in many years. Mapisa-Nqakula said breaching of security cannot be tolerated because South Africans and Parliament expect not just the reduction of escapes, but no escapes from Correctional Centres. She said the President's directive is for all departments of the Criminal Justice System to ensure that "all people in South Africa are and feel safe.' The minister praised the South African Police Services for making quick and good progress in recapturing eight of the 41 escapees within a few hours after their escape.