The Other Side of the World Cup

The World Cup is one of the biggest events in the world and it is being held in South Africa this year. While I hope this helps the South African economy, the darker side of this event or any event like it is inevitably going to come out.

While the vuvuzelas blow and they can be annoying, it might be a better use of vuvuzela outrage to use this as a platform to fight child sex trafficking.

While this practice is common throughout the world, South Africa has not enacted a pending law that is stuck in limbo. A bill to ban sex trafficking has been on the books but has not been made into law. The anti-trafficking bill has been waiting for approval for 5 years. It is high time to get that passed and a viable law that can be enforced. (The attached article tells of what is happening around the World Cup but things like this happen all over the world and not just at an event. )

I hope the proposed legislation becomes law and helps South Africa be able to prosecute those who foster this kind of slavery, especially on young women.

The next time you hear a vuvuzela blow, turn that into a call for action....

Unemployment in South Africa

I visited South Africa a few years ago and had the privilege of meeting many young people that were searching for jobs. They all had graduated and had skills that an employer could use. The only problem was that there were no jobs for them to apply to.

The article says the unemployment rate has jumped up 1.5% in the last few months to 23.5% with a loss of over 200,000 jobs. I think this rate is low. I would have estimated more like 35-40% from the people I met in Durban.

President-elect Jacob Zuma says he will work with businesses to create jobs. How exactly will he do that? That is a nice campaign promise but I have no idea how you will accomplish this in Africa right now.

And, for that matter, in the U.S. right now either.....

Liberia Shows Rare Support for the West

As the Zimbabwe situation continues to be problematic, 2 rays of hope have arrived:

1. Mugabe and the opposition party are now meeting with South African leaders to hopefully start the process of getting aid back to those who truly suffer, the people not heading the political parties.

2. Most of the time, African countries have been leary of western involvement in African politics. But the President of Liberia has come out for the western sanctions:

"Meanwhile, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf backed sanctions against Zimbabwe's leadership, in rare African support for the Western-backed move."

It shows that even the African countries are seeing what Mugabe is doing is wrong and hurting the people he is supposed to protect.

I don't think putting the opposition party automatically in power is the right move either. I propose a two pronged plan:

1. First and foremost, get aid back to those who need it by allowing humanitarian groups to return to their work in Zimbabwe.
2. Rehold the recently held elections with a U.N. peacekeeping force overseeing the process.

Then people will stop dying and have the ability to vote. That is a good start for Zimbabwe. Then we can start thinking about the economy....