The more things change the more they remain the same

In april 2006 I wrote in my old blog "2010 are we on track" most people thought that I was being negative. Even today that thought of mine is still relevant. This is what I wrote: So green point is back on track thanks to Hellen Zille's mercy, but is everything ok? Are our roads ready, is Eskom ready is petrol in tune with demand given that we ran out of Petrol in December 2005, will our stadiums be ready, our airports and hotels, but more importantly will Gautrain be in motion? All these draw a very bleak picture of the success of 2010 more than the breaks that Hellen Zille an d companey applied in the Cape. We should pray that Eskom would have their house in order by 2010, the statement of Oom Alec (sabotage) paints a gloomy picture of a way forward. People in the leadership should take responsibility not pass the buck. Travelling from Cape Town to Johannesburg in December is a nightmare, I can’t remember how many times have I lost my luggage in all major airlines and had to wait at the airport until I am told the luggage would be deliverd to my place. Can you imagine what will happen in the airport when Brazil and England have progressed to the knock out stages? their supporters will come in droves. I nearly forgot, will our police be ready to deal with English hooligans. I understand they give police tough time around the world where ever England is playing or English clubs during EUEFA champions league. I think our hotels are good enough for tourist, but I am not sure if we have enough to accommodate abut thousands and thousands of fans plus tourists and business people. Will our Gautrain be ready for the showpiece? We hear conflicting responses, but the one I like most is “Gautrain is not the reason why we got 2010” this is a give away that some of the officials have already given up on having Gautrain ready by 2010.That is our only hope for 2010 because we don't know it, but the rest of the public transport can’t even cope with pick hour traffic let alone additional soccer mad fans. For convenience sake most fans will hire cars they can afford anyway why would they cramp themselves in our over loaded Taxis,buses and trains. This takes us to another problem will our roads be ready to accommodate them. The answer is NO, I don't unticipate any change in that sphere. Parow is 25 minutes away from Cape Town, but in peak hour traffic it takes 1h30 to 2h00 hours, spare a thought for people who travel between Pretoria and Johannesburg daily. Can you imagine what will happen if we can have more cars than our raods can handle n 2010. I am afraid there might not be enough Petrol for them as well. Do you remember December 2005? we were told that a panic led to petrol shortages in a very short period of time and we still don’t really know the story behind that shortage. As I write this piece South African soccer team which is the reason why we will host the World cup in 2010 does not even have a coach. (point of correction we have Carlos Alberto Pereira) I hope we will be in tune with the world when the time come.