Payback for past land grabs
One idea that may help those unfortunate people living is such shocking conditions in South Africa’s townships, seeing as the majority will not benefit financially from the World Cup, is that the individual white residents and those businesses which benefited from 19th and 20th century land grabs pay a progressive land tax for a set period of time.
The monies collected could be used to build decent homes for the mainly black inhabitants, whose ancestors had been thrown off their land to make way for the white settler colonies to be set up.
This should have been done when the first election of a black party to run South Africa took place but the transition from a white government to a black one took place with no real change for the black majority population.
A tax along the lines proposed would help to bring these people out of the poverty that they have been born into and also provide work for them into the bargain.
Edward Murphy
London N5