World Cup

The remaining sixteen soccer teams will compete in final rounds of the Poor People's World Cup at the Avondale soccer fields, next to the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town at 10am on Sunday, August 8th, 2010. It will feature teams from Tagelsig, Gugulethu, Delft, Athlone, Khayelitsha, Westlake, Crossroads, Hanover Park, and other communities each representing a different country. The all-day tournament will feature a knock-out series of games during which the sixteen teams will go head to head.

Lebohang Pheko, Policy and Advocacy Director at the Trade Collective, has said the majority of South Africans feel as if they are exiles in their own country, and as such the talk of the nation as an inclusive society is a myth.

She was addressing participants at a lunch time briefing on Towards an Inclusive Society, at Diakonia Centre on 22 July.

Pheko said South Africa is the most unequal society in the world with glaring riches living side by side with utter poverty. Because of this, she said, the majority of citizens are living at the periphery of decision making.

Civil society groups across the country are fighting xenophobia and violence - one signature at a time.

The groups have launched a campaign to collect one million signed pledges against xenophobia, intolerance, intimidation and violence in South Africa.

This follows a number of xenophobic attacks and violent outbursts across the country that occurred shortly after the World Cup ended, with many informal mixed-nationality communities under pressure due to poor service delivery and joblessness.

Civil society groups across the country are fighting xenophobia and violence - one signature at a time.

The groups have launched a campaign to collect one million signed pledges against xenophobia, intolerance, intimidation and violence in South Africa.

This follows a number of xenophobic attacks and violent outbursts across the country that occurred shortly after the World Cup ended, with many informal mixed-nationality communities under pressure due to poor service delivery and joblessness.

Civil society groups across the country are fighting xenophobia and violence - one signature at a time.

The groups have launched a campaign to collect one million signed pledges against xenophobia, intolerance, intimidation and violence in South Africa.

This follows a number of xenophobic attacks and violent outbursts across the country that occurred shortly after the World Cup ended, with many informal mixed-nationality communities under pressure due to poor service delivery and joblessness.

“And … the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.”

Zechariah 8:1-8; Matthew 18:1-5

Following the success of the first World Cup in Africa, an internationally-active Catholic missions organization is imagining the possibility of the continent breaking new ground by hosting some major Catholic events.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup wrapped up on Sunday in Johannesburg, South Africa with Spain prevailing over Holland by a score of 1-0 in the final.

Interviewed by Vatican Radio on the significance of World Cup, Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier of Durban, South Africa said that the event has served greatly to build a sense of unity both within Africa and the world community. He said that the legacy of the tournament will be that it has given the people of the continent the vision that they can do things for themselves.

Written by ANiSA Associate

During the week of 21-25 June, Breakthru Community Action (BCA), a Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) located in Boom Street, hosted its third annual Holiday Club for children, ages 6-13, from the surrounding areas. The theme for the week, “Be the Best Player You Can Be,” focused on sportsmanship and the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament. The average attendance for the club was 150-200 children with 50 volunteers each day.

At a bustling market in this giant city [Lagos, Nigeria], a shoe salesman sitting in front of his stall does not hesitate when asked whether Africa’s first World Cup has taught people a thing or two about his continent.

“I believe that they have seen it as a place not what they had in mind,” says 29-year-old Edmund Chukwuka Alubi, whose shop is located in the once crime-ridden Oshodi district, which is now a point of pride for Lagos.