South Africa is a country of contrasts and the FIFA World Cup 2010 was a perfect opportunity, says freelance photographer Samantha Reinders, to highlight the gulf between rich and poor in the country.

“When the first game kicked off at the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, four and a half  billion Rands had been spent on its construction. Environmental concerns, noise-pollution worries and transportation arguments had embroiled the stadium in controversy since before the first brick was laid,” says the 32-year-old from Cape Town.  

“For many the argument was not the money spent but what the money could instead have bought. Many argue that the cost is not in Rands but in lives.

Many of Cape Town’s townships are without sewage systems, hospitals are horribly under-funded and the poor are homeless. Four and a half billion Rand could, roughly, build 60,000 homes, which could house up to 300,000 people.”

Samantha was chosen as part of a team of photographers for a project called Twenty Ten: African Media on the Road to 2010 (and beyond), an initiative of World Press Photo, Free Voice, Africa Media Online and lokaalmondiaal.

“This essay is about a small group of homeless people who live in the shadow of the new Green Point Stadium. Several times they had been uprooted from the trees or corners they called home and moved to other areas around the stadium to make way for construction.

“Although the city has offered to help relocate them, they were not willing to leave the area where they could make a minute living – scavenging from suburban trash bins and guarding cars in the surrounding upmarket areas.”

Samantha, who studied in the United States before heading home to South Africa for a freelance career, used a combination of Canon Mark 1 and Mark 2 cameras.

“I use a variety of fixed lenses, as well as a 24 – 70mm 2.8 Canon lens, and natural light,” concludes Samantha.