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INSIDE AFRICA

World Cup in South Africa; Zimbabwe Situation

Aired September 13, 2008 - 12:30:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ISHA SESAY, HOST: Welcome to INSIDE AFRICA, your weekly window to the continent. I'm Isha Sesay.
On the show this week, in Zimbabwe, can Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai really work together? We're joined by long-time Harare expert, Andrew Meldrum. And the future looks bright. We'll look at Libya's prospects following the thawing relations between Washington and Tripoli.

But first, June 2010 promises to be a proud milestone for South Africa. It's scheduled to become the continent's first host of one of sport's greatest events, the FIFA World Cup. But there are now serious funding problems and persistent rumors that FIFA has a backup plan to move the tournament if it has to. Will South Africa be ready for the big event? Robyn Curnow has a look.

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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some of the world's best footballers started like this, kicking an old ball with bare feet on a dusty pitch in a remote village.

Here it Hazy View (ph), South Africa, John Perlman is handing out brand new football kits to these school kids, many of whom have never worn boots before. He says this project is not directly linked to the World Cup in 2010, but it does try to include South Africa's most isolated and poorest communities in one of the world's biggest sporting events.

JOHN PERLMAN, DREAMFIELDS PROJECT: Most of the big things that come to the country don't always touch their lives. So yeah, this is an opportunity for them to feel there's a party and I'm actually invited.

CURNOW: South Africa is trying to sell the 2010 World's Cup as a celebration for all South Africans. But here in Capetown, some people took a bit of convincing, skeptical about the wisdom of building a stadium in the middle of one of the country's most scenic spots.

PETER CRONJE, CAPE TOWN 2010: Now that people are actually seeing the infrastructure, they're seing the stadium rise about the ground, and they see the countdown every day, I think there is a greater sense of involvement.

CURNOW: Five of the nine stadiums will be newly built, and after a series of strikes and union problems, the Capetown project manager says they will meet FIFA's deadline.

ANDREW FANTON, CAPE TOWN STADIUM PROJECT DIRECTOR: We're on target, and we're quietly confident that we will deliver on the 14th of December 2009.

CURNOW: But soaring steel costs, high oil prices and the weakness of the South African currency against the U.S. dollar have all hit the 2010 budget hard, says Jabu Moleketi, South Africa's deputy finance minister.

Give me a sense of budget overruns. I understand this is costing far more than you initially thought it would.

JABU MOLEKETI, SOUTH AFRICAN DEPUTY FINANCE MINISTER: It is indeed expensive. It's a major investment, like we indicated. It's an investment directly on 2010 related activities and infrastructure, of basically close to $4 billion U.S. And we're saying when you talk about the issues of the cost overruns, we're talking about now cost overruns that are close to $400 million.

CURNOW: The South African government is emphatic that the long term spin- offs are worth the $4.4 billion price tag. Airports are already undergoing massive facelifts, and other transport infrastructure will be dramatically upgraded in the host cities, they say. And more importantly, it's an opportunity for the tourism industry and for South Africa to brand itself as a world-class destination.

MOLEKETI: This is an opportunity. It's an opportunity that talks to the future, an opportunity that puts us as Africans on the map.

CURNOW: But while the race to the country tackles the bigger issues of staging the event, here in Hazy View, a little bit of World Cup magic is already touching South Africans, where new kits in a promise of a freshly laid football field feels a passion and a dream among even the poorest kids that one day they too can be like Zinedine Zidane or Ronaldinho.

Robyn Curnow, CNN, Johannesburg, South Africa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: For fans traveling to the World Cup, one worry would be South Africa's reputation for crime. The latest statistics show that violent crime is falling, but it remains a concern for visitors and locals alike. Nkepile Mabuse looks at how South Africa is tackling the problem.

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NKEPILE MABUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: South African police say they're ready to deal with terror attacks, plane hijackings and cross-border crime -- whatever it takes to ensure Africa's first World Cup in 2010 is safe.

CHARLES NQAKULA, SOUTH AFRICAN SAFETY & SECURITY MINISTER: We're going to be deploying for purposes of ensuring best security in South Africa, high technology instruments that are going to help us to do surveillance.

MABUSE: Securing the event is one thing, but in a country where an average of 50 people are murdered a day, it is the personal safety of fans when outside tournament venues that is the country's biggest challenge. Smash- and-grabs, carjackings and rape are a daily occurrence here.

Visitors arriving at South Africa's biggest airport in Johannesburg have also been targeted, followed, mugged at gunpoint, some even killed. South Africans spend millions of dollars on personal security every year. Those who cannot pay for protection like Sipho Miotshwa, have resorted to patrolling their own neighborhoods. This crime victim turned crime fighter has survived several car hijackings at gunpoint and is determined to stop criminals in his community before he experiences worse.

SIPHO MIOTSHWA, CIVILIAN CRIME FIGHTER: I know I can't (inaudible) of someone raping my child and my wife while they put me down there (inaudible) and tied me up. No, I (inaudible).

MABUSE: During the day he is a driver, but when night falls, he leads a team of civilian police.

They don't carry guns, nor do they have protective gear, such as bulletproof vests. They move in groups and rely on their numbers to stay safe.

The minister of safety and security admits crime in South Africa has reached unacceptable levels, but is quick to add that plans are in place to protect soccer fans.

NQAKULA: Well, I must say that we will have the necessary wherewithal for us to deal with people's safety. I'm not saying that there will not be a solitary attack on people. It happens everywhere.

MABUSE: The countdown has begun, and pressure is mounting for South Africa to demonstrate to the world that Africa too can host big events successfully.

Nkepile Mabuse, CNN, Johannesburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: And stay with CNN all week long as we examine the buildup to the 2010 World Cup and look at the lingering questions about the country's ability to host one of the world's biggest sport spectaculars. That's World Cup 2010, ready to play all this week on CNN.

A pariah state is starving oppressing populace and an imploding economy, hardly a promising backdrop for political bargaining. Can Zimbabwe's bitter foes Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai stick by their historic deal? That story in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Welcome back. Can bitter political opponents really work together in the national interest? Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai are trying to do just that. Andrew Meldrum worked as a journalist in Harare from 1980 until 2003, when he was kidnapped and illegally expelled from the country. He's currently the senior editor for Africa with the Web-based Global News Network. I asked him if he thought a deal between these long-standing political foes could stick.

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ANDREW MELDRUM, GLOBAL NEWS NETWORK: I think that it's a very positive step forward, and it's very exciting to see some cooperation and an agreement being reached between the two forces in Zimbabwean politics.

However, I must say that you ask will it be functional? That's the $64 million question. With the power divided evenly between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, it's hard to see how it's going to work. It will take continued cooperation between the two. And let's face it, there's been very little cooperation between them in the past few years.

SESAY: Knowing the players and knowing Zimbabwe as you do, why do you think Robert Mugabe has finally in this instance, as it appears, agreed to a deal?

MELDRUM: He was under pressure from South African President Thabo Mbeki and from the neighboring countries of Southern Africa and from the African Union. And he -- for the past several months, there has been a shift in African leaders' opinions, and they have become more and more critical of Mugabe and his position. And so, he was under a lot of pressure.

I also suspect that Robert Mugabe made this arrangement, made -- agreed to this deal because he thinks he can finagle his way through and still wield power in Zimbabwe.

SESAY: To that end, the fact that Robert Mugabe will, as we understand it, maintain control of the army, while Tsvangirai will maintain control of the police -- I mean, what does that say about the possibility for stability in Zimbabwe?

MELDRUM: It means that -- that the power is going to be divided. And there may be -- you may see a vying for power between the police and the army. And so if it works, it would be very good. If it doesn't work it could -- you could see a continuation of the division or the pulling apart of the rule of law in Zimbabwe.

I think Morgan Tsvangirai has decided that Mugabe can have the army, but if he has the police, he can reestablish the rule of law and he can use the police to protect his supporters from being victims of state torture and murder, which they have seen in the past several months, Isha.

SESAY: I wonder how you see Morgan Tsvangirai's position, going from the opposition to being, as it says, a part of the establishment. What are the -- what are the balances, what are the challenges he faces?

MELDRUM: The challenge he faces is to -- is to show that he can restore democracy and rule of law, and improve the economy. The economy is the main thing. That's what making people most miserable. And Tsvangirai risks being co-opted, becoming part of the government that people are fed up with. And on the other hand, if he can succeed in changing things and improving lives for ordinary Zimbabweans, then it will be a great success. But it's hard to see how it will work.

SESAY: You mentioned the economy and the need to revamp it, as it were. Do you think this deal paves the way for that important foreign investment that is so desperately needed in Zimbabwe?

MELDRUM: I think it's very important to note that Britain and other major donors have, like the European Union and the United States, have taken a sitting-on-the fence position. They said they're going to wait and see. They want to see if Morgan Tsvangirai will be able to affect important economic change, will stop things like price controls and the relentless printing of money with, you know, with this power-sharing agreement. Up until now, Robert Mugabe has directed economic policy for political ends.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Global News Network's Andrew Meldrum there.

Straight ahead, ahistoric visit and a job well done: The U.S. secretary of state stopped over in Tripoli. We examine the diplomatic and economic prospects for Libya.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Following up on its motto "Don't be evil", tech giant Google is trying to bring cheap and acceptable Internet service to 3 billion people, Africa and other emerging markets. Called "03b Networks," the project depends on 16 satellites that provide broadband speed and lower the cost of service by 95 percent. Emerging markets in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East will have access to the new service that's planned to launch in 2010.

French plane maker Airbus has announced plans to move a new components factory to Tunisia. Airbus parent EABS hopes the move will save up to 1 billion euro by 2010. The Tunisian plant will manufacture basic parts. Research and design of more advanced components will stay in Europe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Welcome back. Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice became the highest ranking U.S. official to visit the Libyan capital in more than five decades. By all accounts, the meeting between Rice and Libya's mercurial leader Moammar Gadhafi went well, opening the way for new trade and diplomatic contacts between Washington and Tripoli.

Randa Fahmy Hudome is a consultant specializing in international issues and the energy sector. I began by asking her about the lengthy break in U.S.- Libyan relations.

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RANDA FAHMY HUDOME, FAHMY HUDOME INTERNATIONAL: Well, there was some remaining issues that the U.S. government wanted to settle before she actually went there. The primary issue was compensation to the victims of terrorist acts that Libya took responsibility for. It was an unprecedented move, legally, and the United States was very involved, even though it was a private lawsuit with plaintiffs against the government of Libya. The U.S. government felt a responsibility to take the role in order to settle that. They feel confident that the money will be deposited in accounts, and this is the time that Secretary Rice felt that she should travel there to Libya.

SESAY: You know, this is the trip that is being touted far and wide by the Bush administration. I just want you to listen to a little bit of sound (ph) there from Condi Rice herself, kind of summing up the occasion. Then -- then I want to get from you the sense of significance attached to this visit. Let's listen.

HUDOME: Sure.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I know when I felt it. I felt it when the airplane touched down. There was something about the United States of America plane touching down in Tripoli -- that's when it struck me that 55 years was a long time.

SESAY: You know, Randa, while it might be historic, I mean what really is the significance of this trip in your opinion?

HUDOME: The significance really was not only the secretary of state visiting Libya in the first to do so since the 1950s, but the first country ever to be removed from the terrorist list through diplomatic means, and as an example to other countries on the terrorists list. This is the type of movement that could occur, a high-level visit from an American official.

SESAY: You know, Randa, some have said that in response to Condi Rice saying that America has new permanent enemies, the more cynical amongst us have said, well, yes, America has new permanent enemies if you are of strategic importance to America.

HUDOME: Right.

SESAY: I mean, where do you stand on that issue?

HUDOME: If we get a country like Libya that is going to cooperate with us on the terrorism front, to help wipe out al-Qaeda in the world today, then that becomes the top priority. So, cynical as it may be, the importance of U.S.-Libyan relations really has a lot to do with counterterrorism cooperation. In fact, right after September 11th, Libya started their cooperation on both intelligence matters and other -- other issues. And the United States really moved on that, albeit slowly, to reward them for what it is that they did.

SESAY: There are those that still have concerns about this trip, in a sense that Libya still hasn't fully deposit that cash into the bank account as compensation, and at the same time the U.S. has agreed to compensate Libyan victims for the bombings that occurred there. Some people (inaudible) sets a precedent that could run counter to American counterterrorism policy.

HUDOME: A majority of the money will be put into a fund by the Libyans to compensate the American victims. But there is also a fund set aside for the 1986 raid in which President Reagan bombed Libya, and there were 80 or so Libyans that were actually killed in that bombing. And so there is a separate fund, albeit it included inclusively in the overall compensation fund, to compensate the Libyans.

Now, the State Department was very clear that no U.S. taxpayer dollars are going to be going into that fund to compensate the Libyan victims. The question is where is that money going to come from? The State Department maintains private sources, both within America and throughout the world.

SESAY: Talk of this visit opening the door to political and economic deals -- I mean, what kind of deals you realistically see as the result of this warming of relations?

HUDOME: Oh, it's extraordinary! I've been to Libya five or six times over the past few years, and the opportunities are extraordinary. Beyond the energy industry, which, of course, Libya has and is blessed with petroleum resources as well as gas, but Libya has been under sanctions for the past 20 years, and really needs a lot of things to enter into the 21st century. And so, right now they have requests for proposals and bids out there for a variety of infrastructure projects, from roads to bridges to waters to office towers and hotels. They really need to rebuild their country, and they're reaching out not only to the world, but to American companies and particular.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Randa Fahmy Hudome there.

Kenya finally wins Olympic gold in an event where it has long excelled. Up next, INSIDE AFRICA accompanies marathon man Samuel Wanjiru as he gets a hero's welcome.

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SESAY: Welcome back to INSIDE AFRICA. Kenya has a proud tradition of producing champion marathoners. And now for the first time, it has one who's wearing Olympic gold. 21-year old Samuel Wanjiru shattered the 24- year old Olympic record in Beijing. David McKenzie was there when Wanjiru returned home to a hero's welcome.

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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The arrival was innocuous enough -- a regularly scheduled flight came into Jomo Kenyatta airport. But this plane wasn't packed with tourists. It was jammed with champions, brimming with Kenyan pride.

The sweetest taste of glory was savored by Samuel Wanjiru, marathon medal winner in Beijing. But his party was about to kick off. The CNN team squeezed in with the fans on Wanjiru's 's triumphant homecoming to Nyahururu (ph), a small town in Kenya's central province. In a personalized Hummer borrowed from a Nairobi businessman resplendid with special guards, Wanjiru took a regal tour around these old training routes for his legions of fans.

I see this kind of response to prime ministers and presidents in Kenya, but this is crazy. This is a whole town, a whole district coming out for Samuel Wanjiru, because he won the gold medal in the marathon, the first time that a Kenyan has ever received that in the Olympic games.

SAMUEL WANJIRU, OLYMPIC MARATHON RECORD HOLDER: Now I get the medal, that medal is history in Kenya. Now everybody is a winner. I'm very happy to see the people of my village, everybody was very happy to see me.

MCKENZIE: A hero's welcome, and now a singular honor, becoming a warrior in the Kikuyu tribe, getting anointed with (inaudible). He's ready to do battle for the next accolade.

Kenya's golden boy might be looking toward tomorrow, but today was the day for the whole of Nyahururu to cheer for their favorite son.

David McKenzie, CNN, Nyahururu, Kenya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Before we go, this programming note. Now you have more opportunities to watch INSIDE AFRICA each week. You can catch us on Tuesdays at 8:30 GMT and on Wednesdays at 3:00 GMT. That's in addition to the times we already air. And check our Web site at cnn.com/insideAfrica.

I'm Isha Sesay. Thanks for watching INSIDE AFRICA.

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