Successful Confederations Cup proves the sceptics wrong, save for a few hitches

In a glowing assessment, Fifa president Sepp Blatter awarded 7.5 points out of 10 for South Africa’s organisation of the Confederations Cup, the so-called curtain-raiser for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup.

Many of the doubters who questioned the decision by the international football body Fifa to award the World Cup to South Africa, arrived in Gauteng hoping to witness the host making a spectacular mess of the global showpiece.

Even the biggest cynics were surprised when the event was hailed as one of the most successful Confederations Cup tournaments since the first one held in Saudi Arabia in 1992.

Said Blatter: “It was a good Confederations Cup on and off the field.

“I am more than satisfied and hoping to sit here and award South Africa 10 out of 10 for hosting the World Cup when it ends next July.

“It is very important for Fifa to host the biggest soccer event in Africa, and we know we made the right decision to award it to South Africa.”

Blatter said the Soccer World Cup is a greater challenge regarding transport and accommodation for the expected 450 000 World Cup tourists. “So this is a priority we need to resolve.”

Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke will meet with Danny Jordaan, CEO of the 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC), to iron out problem areas. He said: “We cannot hide the fact we had problems with the park-and-ride system, the media shuttle, and signage did not work. But these are problems we can solve.

“The Confederations Cup was a first and admittedly very small step towards preparations to deliver the World Cup,” said Jordaan.

“For us, this tournament was a test and we are still celebrating. But I also think the celebrations should stop now and the real work begins,” he added.

He said the tournament had attracted the most diverse spectators of any sporting event in South Africa.

Business Day reported that Valcke confirmed there were questions about Bloemfontein’s capacity to accommodate the thousands of fans expected there.

Mangaung rejects criticism

In an interview with Service, George Mohlakoana, CEO of Bloemfontein’s 2010 World Cup office, reacted to the criticism.

He said since planning started, it was always known that accommodation was going to be a challenge.

As a result, the central region strategy was adopted, which includes Lesotho, Kimberley and the Free State Province in the Bloemfontein accommodation database – thereby increasing capacity from 12 000 to approximately
23 000 beds.

Furthermore, utilisation of the facilities of local universities and schools will add an additional 4 000 beds.

Finally, Bloemfontein will have a programme affording local homeowners an opportunity to act as host families for visitors during the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

The total accommodation capacity will therefore be more than 30 000 – excluding caravan parks and possible temporary accommodation villages – and is sufficient to meet the accommodation needs of the World Cup.    

Park-and-ride criticised

The Confederations Cup tournament showed that one of the greatest challenges facing the LOC is that of the park-and-ride system.

Gauteng-based newspapers were inundated with calls from soccer fans who attended the match between Egypt and Italy at the Coca-Cola Park Stadium and had encountered problems just after the match ended.

“The park-and-ride system on the Wednesday was horrendous to say the least, because there was a lot of pushing around among fans who were looking for transport and buses to shuttle them back to the various transport hubs,” said one caller.

Some fans said they had been left stranded, as pick-up points had been unmarked.

Rich Mkhondo, spokesperson for the LOC, told The Citizen that they were aware of the fiasco and promised they would be working closely with the City of Johannesburg in a bid to iron out the problems.

Crime

More hi-tech resources will be made available to police officers during the 2010 Soccer World Cup running from 11 June to 11 July next year, authorities said.

However, senior police officers hailed the security operation for the Confederations Cup as a resounding success.

There were 39 Confederations Cup related crimes that translated into one crime for every 10 000 soccer fans attending matches. Even so, deputy National Police Commissioner Andre Pruis said security will be intensified for next year’s soccer spectacle.

With the United Nations having ranked South Africa as having the second highest murder rate in the world for the period 1998 to 2000, South Africa’s murder rate, adjusted per population, was 11 times higher than the United States, which had one of the highest among rich countries. It was 38 times higher than that of Italy.

Crime generally has been declining since the study was completed, but the government is taking even more precautions for the World Cup, dedicating 41 000 law enforcement officers to it.

Internet attacks

Meanwhile, the dedicated Symantec division at Workgroup has announced that South Africans should protect themselves against the plethora of Internet attacks likely to hit around the 2010 World Cup tournament.

Fifa-related spam mainly focused on monetary gain is set to grow in the run-up to the event, says Justice Mcebi, product manager for Symantec, who adds that, according to Symantec’s monthly spam reports, around 10% of all spam in 2008 was fraud-related, such as those advertising fake tickets.

“During the previous Fifa World Cup, related phishing attacks jumped by 40%,” he says.

Hotel rooms

A shortage of accommodation in some of the smaller 2010 host cities has emerged as one of Blatter’s main concerns ahead of the 2010 tournament.

Speaking at a function of the South African chapter of SwissCham in Johannesburg in June 2009, Blatter stressed, however, that he was not “looking for problems, only solutions”, and that various options were being interrogated.

He hinted to the berthing of passenger ships off Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth to deal with shortages in those coastal cities, noting that Greece’s capital Athens had shown this to be a viable alternative during that city’s hosting of the Olympic Games in 2004, as Barcelona in Spain had proved previously.

Official research showed that on some nights, Gauteng would be 65 000 beds short, while there would be a shortfall of about 15 000 beds in Port Elizabeth, 14 000 in Bloemfontein, 13 000 in Nelspruit, and 5 000 in Rustenburg.

Meanwhile, with just 40 000 out of a target of more than 55 000 rooms having been secured countrywide less than 360 days before kick-off, thousands of foreign visitors to the World Cup could find themselves without a bed.

The shortage of available beds in most match-playing centres has forced Fifa to drop its insistence that all World Cup accommodation carries official SA Tourism grading. Now owners of ordinary, non-graded houses and flats across the country look set to pocket between R1 000 and R25 000 a day.

Although there are more than 92 000 beds available in graded accommodation, from self-catering units to hotel chains, many have refused to sign over their properties to Fifa’s accommodation contractors, Match Event Services, citing too stringent contract requirements.

One of the country’s largest estate agencies has jumped on board to help tackle the accommodation crisis. A joint venture between Seeff Properties and soccer legend Gary Bailey is signing up scores of homeowners across South Africa.

Samuel Seeff said the venture had “drawn a favourable response” from the 2010 LOC and Match, who together with Fifa’s lawyers are “comfortable and has encouraged what [they] are doing”.

Construction of stadiums

Work on Cape Town’s new Green Point Stadium, being built by a consortium of Murray and Roberts and WBHO, is on track for handover by the contractors to the city in December 2009.

Construction began in March 2007 – a little over two years ago.

Major concrete work has been completed, with only finishes such as seating, lighting, cabling, VIP suites, external cladding and media facilities and IT remaining to be done.

Construction of the roof is progressing well and is scheduled for completion in September in 2009.

When completed, the Green Point Stadium will have cost taxpayers R4.4 billion – four times more than was originally estimated three years ago. And the City of Cape Town is still short of R570 million to pay for it.

The construction of the Peter Mokaba Sports Complex in Polokwane for the World Cup is well on track, with the facility expected to be completed in September.

The Sowetan reported that the stadium was 78% complete.

Bus Rapid Transit System

In what looks like a fresh start in the stalled talks over the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT), Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele has announced the formation of a new National Joint Working Group on Public Transport to resume negotiations with the taxi industry on 12 June 2009.

Ndebele said the task team would have to look at issues that were meant to empower taxi operators, including all public transport networks and development of associated infrastructure.

“The taxi industry must be able to take full advantage of business opportunities in public transport associated with industries such as manufacturing and maintenance as indicated in the BEE Charter.”