The cowardly attack on the Togolese soccer team has quite possibly only been surpassed by the callous response of CAF to the surviving members and support staff. When people who spend so much time together that they can be regarded as a family have to endure the trauma of seeing members of that family severely wounded or killed, expecting them to get on with it mere days afterwards is patently ridiculous. Disqualifying them from the tournament is rubbing salt into raw wounds; the recall by the Togolese government can only be appropriate given the trauma the team has suffered.

Anyways, that's my thoughts on that perspective.

The other incredibly pressing issue is of course, the impact that this attack has had on the willingness of tourists to come to South Africa. That Angola is far away is without question. Equally, that a lot of people see Africa as a country and not a continent cannot be denied (regardless of the fact that a billion people in 54 countries live here....an American on a train travelling from New Orleans to Washington DC, on hearing that I was from South Africa, said 'I've always wanted to see the Pyramids' - huh? A case in point).

So it seems that the response of people like Rich Mkhondo and Danny Jordaan, to quell fears, is quite appropriate. After all, Angola is not only far away, but it also has a far less stable political and social climate than South Africa does. And we have a long, long list of successfully hosted international events, from the rugby and cricket World Cups right through to the recent Confederations Cup. What is a little more perplexing is Police Commissioner Bheki Cele's assertion that British football clubs have a 'slave mentality'. First time I've heard of slaves enjoying multimillion pound annual packages and all the trappings of success, but there you are.

World Cup tickets...aaah, the touts are hard at work. At Shine 2010 we're receiving a number of 'really attractive' offers for tickets from the touts, at the expected massively inflated prices. People, apply for tickets yourselves - they are still available for at least another week and don't HAVE to cost you an arm and a leg. Don't wait until it is too late and then pay through your nose to secure tickets and enrich someone else, the only attribute of whom is to plan ahead for your own silliness!