Striking Security Guards Canned

The contract of a private security company whose employees had staged a wage protest at Durban's Moses Mabhida Stadium has been terminated.

Following an emergency meeting between police and Fifa on Wednesday, it was decided that police officers would take over security duties at Soccer City, Moses Mabhida, Green Point and Ellis Park stadiums for the rest of the World Cup.

The meeting came after security guards embarked on a strike over salaries. They claimed they had been promised R1500 a day, but were getting only R190.

On Sunday, security guards at the Moses Mabhida Stadium walked off their post just before the Australia- Germany match. Police replaced them immediately to provide security.

Yesterday, some of the sacked guards said they were shocked by the decision to fire them

Striking World Cup guards regret losing jobs
The Sowetan
June 18, 2010

Human Trafficking A Smaller Concern, According to Study

Human trafficking ahead of the World Cup was expected to be a major problem in South Africa, where thousands of people were expected to be smuggled into the country to work for low wages. However, a study out of the University of South Africa suggests that problem may not be as big as had been feared.

[A]t present the number of people trafficked to, in or from South Africa each year is currently not known, but that the real figure is more likely to be in the hundreds than in the thousands. But, she says, trafficking is a very real problem in this country.

"There is enough even from the little bits of quantitative data that we manage to get hold of , and a lot of anecdotal data from various, from a range of stake holders; it is definitely a problem and a lot of people are at risk," Allais said.

The study led by Allais is the first comprehensive investigation done in South Africa - it was commissioned by the country's National Prosecuting Authority and done under the auspices of the Human Sciences Research Council in Pretoria. But researchers said their ability to investigate the problem was severely curtailed because governments in the region do not gather statistics on trafficking, and because the team was not given names and details of government officials dealing with it.

Spotlight on Human Trafficking Before World Cup in South Africa
Voice of America
April 13, 2010