Missing the (Green)point

You know that often people embark on or undertake certain tasks with probably the best of intentions, but sometimes just miss the point of the whole exercise.

Take for example Dr Beetroot aka. Manto, who in her own sick twisted way thinks that by finding an alternative African treatment she can make this treatment more accessible and cost effective - of course totally missing the point that millions are infected and thousands are probably dying every day.
Another example is the situation in Zimbabwe. I'm sure that our government thinks that if they remain friendly to Bob while the rest of the world ostracises him, they will be able to greatly influence him and bring more pressure to bare. The only fuckup is that while they're all pussy footing around, the country has gone to shit in a hurry. By the time that their strategy works or they realise the error of their ways, half the population of Zim will be starving to death, tortured to death, in prison or living in South Africa.

Another case in point is the 2010 soccer World Cup. Not to dwell on the fact that we'll be spending billions of rands that we probably can't afford, but lets look at how we intend to spend this. I can't speak for the rest of the country, but I can add my commentary of the Cape Town portion of the bid and the controversy surrounding the stadium.

We're going to build a 70 000+ seater stadium in Greenpoint replacing the current +/- 20 000 seater. Now the only time I have ever seen the current stadium close to capacity is probably at year end for 1 day when the Cape Minstrels have their carnival.
Ok, lets assume that we can fill the stadium for a sporting event besides the world cup. Chances are it would have to be a soccer game as soccer has by far the broadest fan base in our country.
The bulk of the supporters would have to travel in from the Cape Flats (between 10 - 30km) to watch the game which means incurring travel cost. It must be noted that the poorer you are the farther from the stadium you are likely to stay.

Also, to accommodate the stadium and it's supposed influx of supporters, the City of Cape Town will be spending a few billion rand upgrading it electricity, roads, water, sewerage and other transport infrastructure. This will of course be spent in Greenpoint (a rather affluent suburb) and within the CBD. While the current infrastructure is sufficient for the city's needs, it will apparently need to be upgraded to facilitate the stadium and the activities relating to the world cup.

There is however a dire need to construct infrastructure in the afore mentioned poorer areas where RPD housing is starting to trickle in. These people, it appears, will have to wait a further few years as the city will be committing its full infrastructural budget of R1 bn pa for the next few years to the upgrading of affluent and well developed areas.

So in summary, we'll have a stadium which no-one will attended and will just drain resources from the city to maintain as it will not be profitable.
Billions spent on infrastructure in the wrong place and in a budgetary sense, hamstring the city in providing this for a further few years.

What do we get in return? 20 000 visitor for a few days (maybe).
And the local muggers will have a field day welcoming those football hooligans to Africa.

Good intentions are one thing but fuck.....use the grey matter a bit as well.

PS. Did I mention that the Germans are building the stadium..farewell rates and taxes, it was nice meeting you, briefly.