10 July 2008

The organisers of the 2010 World Cup have assured that preparations for the event were on track. This comes despite announcing this week that Nelson Mandela Bay - Port Elizabeth would be dropped from the roster of the 2009 Confederations Cup. The decision meant that none of the stadiums being built for the 2010 World Cup would feature in the traditional build-up tournament. The organizers have assured that, although nothing was ready yet, the exclusion of the city was by no means a vote of no confidence in South Africa.

However, Nelson Mandela Bay is outraged and disappointed by the exclusion. The rationale for the decision has been questioned by authorities, as it was believed that everything was on track for the stadium to be ready on time. The Local Organising Committee (LOC) was also criticized for making the decision without consulting the city officials or any other stakeholders. The city will now try to persuade the LOC that it will indeed be prepared for the Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup.

The General Secretary of FIFA, Jerome Valcke, has said that the LOC was not doing enough to promote South Africa to the rest of the world, and the situation in Zimbabwe should be resolved, as it was in the interests of both South Africa and Africa. The body’s concerns about the political and economic situation in Zimbabwe were part of a long list of challenges that South Africa needed to face if it wished to host the 2010 World Cup. A protest group in London has even launched a campaign calling for the event to be removed from South Africa, for the safety of the soccer players and their fans.

World Cup tickets will go on sale in South Africa from February 2009. A new system has been designed for ticket sales that will prevent black market sales. A new collection system would also assist in this regard. Although no pricing scale had been decided upon as yet, it was stressed by FIFA’s sub-committee for ticketing that the cheapest seats would be affordable to ordinary South African supporters. Furthermore, not only Category D tickets would be sold in South African rands, and this has opened the door for others to purchase tickets.

The damage on Oxford Road above the tunnel of the Gautrain has been attributed to several factors, including leaking water pipes, but construction of the showcase transport system will be back on track within a week.

In the latest news, FIFA President Sepp Blatter has confirmed that he has spoken with three countries about possibly hosting the 2010 World Cup if South Africa was hit by a natural disaster. He was adamant that this was the reasoning for a contingency plan and not the speculation that surrounded the question of whether South Africa would be ready for the 2010 showcase or not.

South Africa is under a lot of pressure, and sometimes it seems that the situation is going nowhere.