Strike!

After returning home from the game in Johannesburg today, there was local news about two labour strikes in the country.

First, a large group of security officers went on strike claiming they were not being paid. Security in the three host cities I've seen has been immense. Groups of security and police officers roam everywhere near the public or touristy venues. Police cars and trucks are on all the roads. Small bands of police in riot gear patrol the stadiums hoping for a riot to quell. I'm not sure what effect the strike will have on that, but the reports say that those striking were detained and removed from the areas where they could cause a disturbance.

The second strike were the bus drivers. Driving a car and parking at the stadium is almost completely impossible here. Cars line up for hours only to be told that lots were sold out to pre-booking weeks in advance. Most people end up parking at a park-n-ride and catching a coach bus to and from the stadium. After waiting in a queue of cars for two hours today and getting nearly to the stadium, we were turned away and had to drive half an hour to one of the park-n-rides. After the game, we made it onto a coach bus and back to our car, but hundreds were stranded at Soccer City Stadium when bus drivers decided to go on strike because they wanted to work their normal schedule and not the World Cup event schedule.

In a totally unrelated story, one of the hostesses at our lodging is a twenty-something Afrikaaner college chick with a gorgeous accent who told us about some of the renovating before the World Cup. She says many of the roads they worked on were already in good shape. Roads that needed work were neglected so that the more popular routes could be fixed up even more. Some of the roads falling into disrepair began to get potholes, and the locals took to planting trees in the potholes. She wasn't sure why, except perhaps to make a statement, but if I see one I'll snap a picture.