2010 Stadium Rates High

I remember the excitement when we were awarded the 2010 Soccer World Cup - even though it was a foregone conclusion that we would receive the sympathy vote after losing out to Germany for 2006, South Africans still partied the night away. I remember hosting a champagne breakfast at my place and it ended up being an evening braai as well. It was a great day - we were going to host the world's single largest sporting event.

We have now reached the business end of the escapade where we are finalising the infrastructure and actual stadiums. I really haven't been following the ramblings intently,but I am well aware that there were numerous obstacles, both logistically and financially. The latter was a bit concerning because we needed moolah to build these monstrous venues. All matters were finally resolved and I shared in the relief and excitement of Cape Town that things were finally on track. I also swallowed the political drivel that "everyone would benefit greatly"....Bull shit!

All the excitement and glee soon disappeared when I opened a council notification informing me that my property value had trebled. This would normally be good news but in the light of an incremental rates increase it made me sick to the core! It was now becoming clear (to me at least) that the residents of Cape Town were paying for the Green Point Stadium. While I always knew that my rates and taxes would somehow indirectly pay for it, I just wasn't expecting it to be this blatant. Why else would they increase so drastically? Were they going to empty my wheelie bin twice a week? Were they going to increase the water pressure on my garden taps, or maybe maintain the grass verges in my former "grey" suburb? I don't think so!