I went with a organisation called SOUL (Save Our Universal Land) to clean up sections of the Jukskei river, just as it leaves the township of Alexandra.You would not believe the filth in this river. Its understandable, I suppose as Alex is one of the poorest places in SA, but there was everything in this river- dead dogs, rats, tyres, blankets, cans, paint buckets, shoes, residential rubbish, carpets, cupboards....I could go on.
On the bright side, we did'nt find a dead body, which I did kind of expect to find underneath all the crud.
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Being on the media bus that led the parade, I was able to see first hand, the uniting effect that success in sport has on our people, people of all sizes, color, shapes and creed lined the streets to celebrate. On the highway between Jhb and Pta cars blew their horns, some stopped to take pictures of the team, every single person that I seen had a smile on their face. One thing that I noticed was the sheer numbers of black supporters that seemed intent to congratulate the Boks. That made me think that maybe the controversy about quotas is not really what the man on the street wants, but what a select number of politicians want, because the black people that lined the streets in large numbers seemed to love this team as much as the white ones
Bryan Habana lifts the Webb Ellis Cup for the crowds in Midrand, near Johannesburg.
South African rugby fans at Boktown got a surprise before the final, when they were joined by former President of South Africa , Nelson Mandela... I was also surprised because no-one from the PR company running Boktown felt the need to mention that he was coming, so after standing in the beer queue for what seemed like an age- I get to the front, the announcement is made and Madiba slowly makes his way to the balcony, being a newspaper photographer, I couldnt let this opportunity get away, so I ran there- got my pics and had to stand right at the back of the beer queue again... Thanks Madiba :)
These students ran from class to class, jumping on the desks, dancing and singing songs to force students that were in the classes to leave, they ran between the classes like they were possessed, this photographer (who is just one day from his thirtieth birthday) found it tough going, but nevertheless managed to keep up, even though he was out of breath, soaked through and extremely red in the face.