Gary Benham

202 days to go - and the winner is ..........(a prize competition)

In the very small hours of Thursday morning Uruguay became 32nd and last country to qualify for WC2010, completing one of the strongest line-ups in the tournament's history.  Overnight the last six places that were up for grabs were decided.  There simply isn't time or space to go into the French "goal" that knocked out a plucky Ireland (Adrien not sure you can get away with "le main de dieu")

The 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa wasted no time in welcoming the countries to Africa's first FIFA World Cup by hosting a symbolic flag-raising ceremony at its SAFA House headquarters in Johannesburg yesterday, at which the flags of all 32 participating teams were raised in celebration and to mark a major moment in African sporting history.

British High Commissioner, Dr Nicola Brewer, raises the English flag watched by Dr Danny Jordaan and Dr Irvin Khoza of the WC2010 Organising Committee

The British High Commissioner joined other Ambassadors and embassy representatives of the 32 countries to raise the St George's Cross outside SAFA House, metres from the Soccer City stadium at which the tournament's opening match and final will be played on 11 June 2010 and 11 July 2010 next year.

"We congratulate all the teams that have now qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. For us this is a very emotional day. After all the years of hard work that have gone into preparing for this momentous event, it is now a tangible reality. The finalisation of the 32 participating countries is a major milestone and we would like to warmly welcome all of them to Africa's first World Cup. Our country and our continent cannot wait to receive the players and their multitudes of fans who will descend on South Africa next year for what is sure to be an unforgettable event," said Dr Danny Jordaan, the Chief Executive Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa (OC).

Dr Jordaan was ecstatic at the calibre of teams that have qualified for South Africa 2010, which is set to showcase the world's best footballers in state of the art, modern stadiums.

"All the major countries in world football have qualified for the tournament, as well as a number of countries that are very capable of causing major upsets. We're particularly delighted that the giants of African football, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Algeria, join hosts South Africa in what is a formidable line-up of African participants. Now it is no longer a case of asking whether the stadiums will be ready. They are and they will be beautiful cathedrals which will host the best footballers in the world. Now, it is about preparing to celebrate the coming together of six continents, 32 teams and billions of people around the world in a celebration of football in South Africa next year. Today marks the day where we begin that celebration," Dr Jordaan added.

So the final line-up is:

Nigeria, Cameroon, New Zealand, Japan, Netherlands, Korea Republic, Korea DPR, Australia, USA, Brazil, Ghana, England, Paraguay, Spain, Denmark, Cote d'Ivoire, Chile, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Serbia, Switzerland, Argentina, Honduras, Slovakia, Algeria, Portugal, France (tbc?), Slovenia, Greece, Uruguay and hosts South Africa.

Would anyone like to pick their winner now?  First correct prediction will win a prize ...........

Posted at 09:23 20 November 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[0]

205 days to go - how much?

Much has been made about businesses cashing in on the World Cup coming to South Africa.  Nothing new there then, we heard the same stories before Germany 2006. 

The local Sunday Times carried a front page piece this weekend on the amount that internal airfares will rise during next year's tournament.  Some fares have not been announced yet as airlines claim they are waiting for the draw to decide on prices.  Why would that be do we think?

Reports suggest that a return ticket between JoBurg and Cape Town in Jun / Jul 2010 will cost just R500 (£42) less than an economy return between JoBurg and London in the same period.  Having said that I've seen reports today that European airlines are suggesting that they are already at capacity for flights to South Africa for next year's football festival.

Africa's first World Cup will not be cheap for visiting fans who probably expect there to be some price increases.  But if they feel that they are being seen off these fans are unlikely to rush back to South Africa.  Is a short term hike in prices sound business when compared to the benefits that longer term increased tourist numbers might offer? 

I've heard that Germany has seen a marked increase in tourism (particularly from the UK) since they hosted the WC in 2006.  Lets hope South Africa can say the same after WC2010.

Posted at 17:50 17 November 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[0]

206 days to go - A National Disgrace?

This weekend more teams booked their places at WC2010, well played New Zealand, Cameroon and Nigeria.  The last remaining places are up for grabs on Weds night.

The weekend also saw South Africa take on France at rugby.  It was an exciting game and whilst the result (a 20 - 13 win for the French) did not go down so well here, the thing that has dominated the sports pages and radio airwaves since Friday evening was the rendition of the South African national anthem before the match. 

Durban based reggae artist, Ras Dumisani, provided the vocals that have caused such offence here.  Listen for yourselves.  The French claim that the version had been cleared by the South African Embassy in Paris.  Whatever the case the simple fact remains that national anthems are an important element of international sporting events, get them wrong or "dis" them and its likley to cause a problem. 

Posted at 18:13 16 November 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[0]

208 days to go - (non) Criminal Elements?

Much has been made of the crime stats in South Africa.  There is, undoubtedly, a high level of crime and violent crimes in particular.  But the statistics suggest that these tend to be focused in the domestic communities with little impact on visitors.  I don’t mean to trivialise the seriousness of the situation but this weekend we thought we had our first personal experience of crime.

My wife thought that she had had her mobile phone stolen during a short shopping trip to a local Mall.  Before reporting the theft she decided to retrace her steps to see if she’d dropped the handset only for it to be found by a stranger and handed in – optimistic you might think.

Well here’s the thing.  The phone had been found, under the table that we’d had coffee at, by a young woman who had held on to it knowing that sooner or later the owner would call.  In order to do just that my wife asked another, non criminal, stranger to borrow their phone.  To cut a lengthy, but happy, story short my wife and her phone were reunited about two hours after she discovered its loss.

The morale of this story – there are statistics and there are statistics.  There are security concerns here but there are also some very nice and friendly citizens, we’ve met loads.

Posted at 18:45 14 November 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[0]

212 days to go - Combat Barbie

Ever since feminists attacked Bob Hope with flour bombs at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970 the Miss World pageant has been surrounded by controversy and has divided public opinion. The competition has been seen as old-fashioned and rather "un PC" in its native Britain.

The 2009 pageant will be held in Jo'Burg in December with some reports suggesting that the city has paid R45 million (£3.75m) for the right to host the pageant.

South Africa will be represented by Tatum Keshwar, a 24-year-old psychology graduate from University of KwaZulu-Natal. Last week Tatum visited a Soweto primary school where she was keen to express the importance of education for all as she signed up to the 1GOAL campaign.

In an interesting twist the local Sunday Times carried a front-page picture of Miss England, Katrina Hodge this weekend. Katrina (or perhaps more appropriately, Lance Corporal) Hodge is a serving member of the British Army (although she has taken leave to participate in the competition).  This suggests that there is much more to these pageants than beauty alone. It also highlights the fact that the British Armed Forces are keen to provide the support to its personnel to pursue their personal ambitions. It is all about work / life balance - when personnel are not employed on operations, our Armed Forces will attempt to provide quality of life and support to our personnel in their vast array of pursuits.

I wish Tatum and Katrina the very best of luck in December

Posted at 11:29 10 November 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[1]

218 days to go - Guest Blogger #3 - John Heppenstall

John Heppenstall joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2007, after completing a degree in History at University College London.  Initially posted to Europe Directorate, he moved to Africa Directorate in August 2008 and now covers the political desk for Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho and the Seychelles.  He has followed closely Swaziland's growing interest in the 2010 World Cup and shares some of his thoughts below:

Posted at 11:06 04 November 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[1]

220 days to go – Derby Day!

Whether its River Plate vs Boca, Inter vs AC or Rangers vs Celtic derby days hold a special place in the hearts and minds of football fans across the globe.  In South Africa the “Big One” is, without question, Kaizer Chiefs vs Orlando Pirates.

The Orlando Pirates are the oldest professional team in the country.  They hail (obviously) from the Orlando district of Soweto.  But so do the Chiefs.  In 1970 the Chiefs were formed by a breakaway group of players from the Pirates.  Their founder, Kaizer Motaung, had just returned from a stint playing in the USA.

The Soweto derby that took place on Saturday had added spice as it was the first to actually take place in Orlando in over 20 years.  The Orlando stadium (which is not a WC2010 venue) is an impressive arena with a 40,000 capacity.

A small group from the High Commission, including the High Commissioner herself, went to the game.  But because the fixture has generated some crowd problems over the years our security experts, Roger and Barry, had visited the stadium in advance to see for themselves how things would be handled. Apart from some chaotic parking marshalling they needn’t have worried.  The white and black of the Pirates' fans mingled freely with the gold and black clad Chiefs' fans that were in the majority as the nominated “home” team.

The noise and atmosphere in the stadium was awesome, further indication of the passion that visiting English fans will witness next winter.  But kick off was delayed by about 15 minutes as the Chiefs' goalkeeper had to find a replacement shirt, his original one clashed with the Pirates' strip.

The Chiefs attack ....

Sadly, the game did not live up to the hype – and there had been a fair bit of it in the days leading up to the match.  A nil – nil draw did neither team any favours in terms of league standing but then its often more important to fans that derby games are not lost, just ask any Spurs fan – they played Arsenal the same day!  

Posted at 07:03 02 November 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[0]

223 days to go - Britain thru Mo's eyes

When the captain's voice boomed over my head that we were about to land at Heathrow airport, I actually pinched myself because I had fallen asleep and had had a strange dream about me in some big plane going to a foreign place...strange hey!?

I looked out of the window and realised that the sun was about to come up! A clear sky? My first fear of the UK had been the weather...I had been regaled and scared silly with tales of hardly ever seeing the sun, yet it was a clear day outside not a single cloud in sight - a good omen!

Going through customs was not bad at all and not even as scary as when I went through Jo'Burg's OR Tambo airport, where I felt like I was actually thinking of hijacking the flight I was about to board (but that's a story for another day).

After breezing through customs I went to the counter where I had been told I would collect promised cash.  Again, I was rather nervous because I kept thinking, what if they say I actually have to go into town for that!! Silly of me, I know...There I actually met two other Chevening scholars who had just landed...the UK is really smiling at this Mosotho girl eh?!

The drive from the airport to Winchester was uneventful. I kept looking around trying to see all the things I had seen on TV, but I saw green lush beautiful, big pastures. We arrived at Winchester and I felt like I had stepped into an old English movie...the houses looked so old and so beautiful, and so very close to the street...? ha! That is when I learned that old towns were built that way...strange! At the University, registration up until getting my room was a breeze, less than 20 min, (our universities should really adopt these methods; life would so much easier)

I have not seen much of the country because I have a hectic timetable, but I do intend to explore though I saw a bit of Milton Keynes, thanks to my loving friends residing here in the country.

The people here are quite nice, and I realised that the small stretched smile I used to see back home is actually what people do here to acknowledge that they do notice you...

I wonder how bad or good the crime rate is here...has there ever been cases of people walking out of stores without paying or leaving after filling their tanks?? I ask because I was rather impressed with the self-service filling stations and counters that you pay without help from  a teller...mmmhhh

It is early days to say much, but I really have to say I feel welcome, even though I am the only black kid in my class and in the university residence I stay in -there are very few in Winchester!!! ( Do not get me wrong, just remember I come from a region where I grew up being treated different when in a place full of those not your colour - believe me it still happens)

I will keep you updated and give you a glimpse of my life in Winchester as time goes. Halloween is coming up, I can't wait!!!

Mo is one of the 2009 Chevening Scholars.

Happy Halloween to all!

Posted at 09:09 30 October 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[0]

224 days to go - Guest Blogger #2 - Moleboheng Rampou

Moleboheng Rampou is my name, but I have come to be known as "Mo" or at least 'Molebz' as I have discovered my name is a tongue twister to most people that I have met since I have been in the UK. I was born and raised in Lesotho, Southern Africa, and no it is not part of the Republic South Africa.  That speck in the middle of RSA is a country - Lesotho.

Mo and her Chevening colleagues at their farewell reception.

I am a Chevening scholar, doing my MA Theatre and Media for Development here at the University of Winchester. My degree is actually in Theatre and Drama, and I minored in French - though I am very rusty in the language at the moment...

I applied for the course I am studying because I wanted to combine my first love, theatre, with my new found love, development. I say development is my new found love because I only recently started being really active in projects. I have always had a thing for helping people, in any way I could, but it was never on a large scale, and it was always haphazard, put together to just make it work then and if it did not, oh well...I tried!

This new found love has rather changed my outlook on life, and at this moment I can only say I feel like I am a toddler, taking those few new tentative steps into the big (bad?) world!

I love reading, and I have an inquisitive mind - basically that is how I landed up here. I have a thing for writing, and have even been on stage a couple of times performing a piece or two!

I love travelling and exploring, though I should point out that this is my first trip 'overseas'.

TOMORROW Mo will give us her first impressions of life in the UK.....

Posted at 13:33 29 October 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[0]

227 days to go - I can feel it in my water!

Partnering for better water and sanitation in South Africa

Scholarship and exchange programmes like the Chevening Scholarship are recognised around the world.  But were you aware that the UK government also supports learning in more technical fields such as water regulation and management?

As a water scarce country, South Africa's limited water resources require careful management to support economic growth and social development without threatening the environment.  The UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are proud to partner with the South African Department of Water Affairs (DWA) and the not-for-profit organisation Partners for Water and Sanitation (PfWS) to provide training and exchange opportunities between water agencies in the UK and South Africa in order to protect this valuable resource.

The project idea came from a scoping study funded by Defra in February 2009.  Water experts from the UK and South Africa came together to discuss ideas and identify gaps in services.  That group identified that one of the biggest challenges was a lack of training.  This project will provide training and exchange in four areas: regulation, water demand management, assessing wastewater treatment works, and institutional strengthening.  Here’s how it will work:

Regulation:

The UK Drinking Water Inspectorate will review South African legislation & the UK Environment Agency will review South Africa’s “Green drop certification” scheme.  They’ll share advice with the South African government.  They’ll also train DWA specialists and regulators on auditing drinking water quality.  One question I get asked often is whether the water is safe to drink from the tap here.  I've been doing so since July without problems and our kettle looks better than the one we left behind in Stevenage!

Water Demand Management:

Wessex Water (UK) are teaming up with the South African Water Use Efficiency Unit to see how the country’s scarce water resources can be shared effectively and efficiently.  Wessex will share information on good practice in other countries and provide advice on how to use that information locally.

Assessing Wastewater Treatment Works:

In the true spirit of exchange that the dialogue fosters, two South African water experts will complete short work placements on waste water treatment with Anglian Water in the UK.  Together, they’ll assess the current state of wastewater treatment in South Africa and share their findings with national, provincial and district stakeholders.

Institutional Strengthening:

Atkins and Bristol water will evaluate the progress of the Technical Services Department and two Water Service Providers operating on behalf of ZDM on water and sanitation asset management.  Wessex Water will provide Ugu District Municipality with advice on optimising their water demand control centre They’ll make recommendations for improvement and share lessons learned with the regional Kwa-Zulu Natal  & National DWA offices.

Posted at 14:58 26 October 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[0]

230 days to go - the future's bright .......

My relative blog silence is due to the fact that we've just hosted a whirl wind visit from Kevin "Air" Miles of the Football Supporters Federation (FSF).

The FSF will publish a free guide to WC2010 for those fans making the trip.  Kevin's trip has helped him build contacts, gather relevant information and find out for himself what the situation is really like on the ground.  We managed to secure meetings with the Local Organising Committee, city venue managers (for Tshwane (Pretoria) and Rustenburg) and senior FIFA and "Match" Officials.  Kevin met several members of the High Commission team. 

We also included several media opportunities in his programme - after an appearance on SuperSports' "Monday Night Football" Kevin received emails from Zimbabwe and was recognised in a restaurant in Jo'Burg.  I'll post more on Kevin's visit in the weeks to come but I wanted to share a very bizarre conversation we had when we visited Soccer City, the venue for the opening ceremony on 11 June and the final on 11 July.

 Soccer City - Jo'Burg

The stadium is very near completion.  The pitch is growing, although it looks rather small in in the context of the huge seating area in which the seats have been installed.  The vast majority of the seats are orange.  Until this week I assumed that this was because the stadium would become home to the Kaiser Chiefs team post WC2010.  Not the case .......

Kevin, Football Laision Officer Jo Bowyer and I had the chance to go into the stands and promptly took a seat to take in the stunning vista before us.  It was not long before a high vis jacketed construction worker came over to us to ask that we don't sit on the seats.  They have, he told us, had to replace 8,000 seat units so far which at a cost of 500R each adds up.

We asked why this had been necessary.  It would appear that behind "powder puff blue" and "baby pink" orange is the thrid worst colour to install as stadium seating.  We were told that some seats had faded, some had had paint spilt on them, some had been knicked and some had broken when sat on!  I'm no builder but there might be a suggestion of design flaw here! 

If orange was not a good colour for seating we wondered why it had been chosen.  Apparently there was no specification made on seat colour when the tender was awarded.  There have been rumours that the architect is Dutch but our yellow vested friend told us that this was not the case.  What ever the reason the stadium looks stunning in all its orange glory.  Whether or not the future will be orange, rather than a faded version of it, remains to be seen!

More next week.  

Posted at 09:25 23 October 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[0]

238 days to go - Blog Action Day - Climate Change

Today is Blog Action Day, an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. This year's theme, and a regular topic on my blogs, is Climate Change.

As we head towards the UN's climate change conference in Copenhagen in December, there remains a need for greater leadership if the conference is able to deliver on its objectives.

The Road to Copenhagen is the UK Government’s case for an ambitious agreement at Copenhagen and focuses on urgent action to limit global temperature increases to no more than 2 degrees Celsius, beyond which the risks of dangerous climate change become much greater. The current international agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, will expire in 2012. Copenhagen, in effect, will create its successor.

The ultimate aim, of course, is to limit the damage done to preserve the planet for our children.

Is it important for them? Well, last week, Amber, my 7-year-old daughter was tasked with writing a poem at school. The subject was of her choosing and here is Amber's attempt:

Posted at 06:38 15 October 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[4]

241 days to go - Guest Blogger - Bafana Bafana Legend!

Its international week.  On Saturday South Africa (Bafana Bafana) lost 1-0 to Norway but have another friendly, against Iceland, on Wednesday.  It is therefore very appropriate that I introduce my first guest blogger - drum role please .......

Andre Arendse is a local legend, having won 67 international caps as, arguably, the best goal keeper South Africa has ever produced.  He represented his country at two World Cups and won the African Cup of Nations with Bafana Bafana in 1996.  He made over 400 professional club appearances, including spells at Santos FC of Cape Town and Fulham FC in London.  Andre retired in 2009 having won back to back Premier Soccer League (PSL) Championships with Supersport Utd of Pretoria.

Goalkeeping legend Andre Arendse talks to a short fat bloke from the British High Commission!

Since retiring Andre has co-founded the local NGO,  Safe Hands Soccer (SHS).

Andre puts some budding goalies through their paces in Alexandra township

He tells us a bit about the project here:

"Safe Hands Soccer is a forward thinking, progressive and holistic soccer development company. SHS moves beyond pure skills training and supports the overall development of the player by offering all elements of soccer development such as: Elite sports mental conditioning; soccer specific body conditioning - agility, explosive power and strengthening; professional skills development and structured training; soccer specific nutritional support; player personal development - life skills, education and life outside sport and player career development and support.

SHS is committed to the overall development of soccer and specifically to the development from the grass roots level as SHS acknowledges that this is where the future soccer stars are born. SHS is not a club and as stated above is focused in the overall development of South African soccer by offering support services.

Andre with future Bafana Bafana stars?

The major focus for SHS is the element of active talent spotting, however this is not enough as once that talent is identified the extra support of nurturing and developing that talent is needed. SHS is involved in multiple areas of soccer development including;
goalkeeper open evenings training, one on one goalkeeper coaching with me (amateur to elite); soccer clinics and workshops; specialist soccer training at schools/universities/clubs (support coaches & players) and community soccer projects."

Click here to find our more about SHS.

Posted at 11:21 12 October 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[1]

245 days to go - John Jeffrey - a True Scot

On 5 March 2009 the Diplomatic Service lost one of its true characters.  John Jeffrey, then Consul in South Africa, lost his long and courageous battle with cancer.

I'd had the pleasure of working with John some years ago in Tunisia.  When I was told that I would work with John again in Pretoria I was delighted but sadly he passed away before I was able to take up my position here.

John was a proud Scot, a very proud Scot.  He immediately sprang to my mind when, earlier this week, I was asked to make a short presentation to a group of school children in Durban that are participating in a FIFA sanctioned Mini World Cup tournament.  The Victory Christian Academy have been drawn to represent (and play as) Scotland.

I am Hampshire boy, born and bred and I've only visited Scotland once.  So I spent Tuesday night pouring over a hot laptop researching vital Scottish facts.

Did you know, for example, that Scotland has a population of about 5 million and an area of about 78,772km²?  It rains there on about 200 days each year, apparently. 

Research done I entered the school hall on Wednesday to a rapturous reception.  The hall had been decorated with the Saltire (the Scottish flag - the cross of St Andrew).

I spent 20 minutes telling the children of famous Scottish folk - you might be surprised at how many I came up with or how great their achievements were.  Some like Sir Alex Ferguson and J K Rowling were better know to the kids than others (James Dewer, the inventor of the vacuum flask!)

An uncomfortable Englishman?

The children are really passionate about their project to learn more about Scotland.  They have already learnt the "Flower of Scotland" and will, I'm sure, study the works of Burns to get a cultural handle.

Of course, some might suggest that by representing Scotland in the mini world cup the children are already one step ahead of the grown ups back at home! 

What I do know is that from a lofty position somewhere John will be cheering the children on come 28 November.  I'll be there to do the same.

Posted at 16:12 08 October 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[0]

247 days to go - 1GOAL, they've signed up, will you?

Wow what a day. 

Posted at 22:37 06 October 2009 by Gary Benham  |  Comments[3]