CHAOS ERUPTED following a World Cup game in Durban on Sunday night when up to 500 match security stewards who had begun protesting over low wages were dispersed by armed riot police using rubber bullets and tear-gas.
The disgruntled stewards began their protest outside the Moses Mabhida Stadium in South Africa’s east coast port city about two hours after spectators had left the evening Group D match in which Germany beat Australia 4-0.
Local newspaper reports quoted a number of stewards as saying they had embarked on the demonstration because they had been paid a fraction of what they were promised, and they had been left with no way to get home after work.
One steward, Fanak Falakhebuengu, told a news agency: “They were supposed to give us R1,500 that’s what Fifa told us, and they gave us R190. We are working from 12 o’clock this morning until now (1pm)”.
However, when the protesters refused to leave the venue after the game riot police fired rubber bullets and tear gas before charging the crowed. Yesterday Fifa washed its hands of any responsibility in relation to the wage dispute, saying the stewards were hired by a local company.
Lieut Col Leon Engelbrecht, a police spokesman assigned to the World Cup, confirmed that tear-gas was used to help end the lengthy protest but insisted nobody was seriously injured.
“It’s a concern that the security company didn’t have this settled before the tournament,” Lieut Col Engelbrecht said. The police added that they would track down the protest’s ring leaders and arrests would be made.
Meanwhile, pleas by some media organisations and competing teams to have the vuvuzela horns – which have created a ceaseless drone around stadiums and fan parks since the tournament began – banned have fallen on deaf ears. Fifa has refused to act saying the plastic instruments had already become a symbol of the 2010 tournament.
“They characterise the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and they will remain so, just as much as other World Cups like the one in Mexico had their own way of celebrating the beautiful game,” said spokesperson Rich Mkhondo.