On Sunday, the eyes and ears of the world will be focused on Soccer City as the mouth watering 2010 FIFA World Cup comes to an end.
It has indeed been a month long festival of football and Gauteng is geared up for the closing ceremony and the final match of the world’s football spectacle.
We are proud to say that as South Africa, in particular Gauteng we have been great hosts. The visitors who came here to be part of this historic occasion have had a great time in Gauteng and we are hopeful that many of them will return to this beautiful province in future.
Despite some minor glitches at the start of the tournament, we can proclaim that the entire organisation of the World Cup has been a very successful operation. This was made possible by cooperation between all three spheres of government, FIFA and the Organising Committee.
At the start of the tournament we experienced serious traffic congestion on some of the routes leading to Soccer City due to a large number of people electing to use their own vehicles to travel to the stadium instead of the available efficient public transport.
This led to challenges besetting traffic flow and it became a logistical nightmare to control traffic. As a result, some of the fans arrived at the stadium late and missed the start of the opening ceremony.
Logistically it is just not practical to accommodate thousands of cars on the roads leading to the stadia in a short space of time. Working together with the Organising Committee and FIFA we have decided to implement stricter traffic management measures to ensure that fans can arrive on time for the closing ceremony and the final match.
The new measures will involve closure of certain roads around Soccer City, parts of the N1 highway, Sandton and Pretoria from 14h30 on match day. This will enable us to facilitate smooth movement of fans, including VIPs to the stadium.
A number of heads of state will also be attending the closing ceremony and the final. Only vehicles with authentic accreditation will be allowed to travel in the areas affected by road closures. Any motorists who disobey the special World Cup traffic regulations will have their vehicles impounded and may face heavy fines.
Once again we appeal to all fans to use public transport to travel to and from the stadium. Our efficient public transport is available in the form of trains, busses and minibus taxis. We have now made arrangements for minibus taxis to drop off and pick up passengers right at the stadium.
The fans who are in possession of park and walk tickets are urged to travel to the stadium early before the roads are closed. Our law enforcement agencies, including the police and metro police from the three metros, Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, the Provincial Disaster Management and volunteers will be at hand to assist with the free flow of traffic.
For more information contact:
Thabo Masebe
Cell: 082 410 8087
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government (http://www.gautengonline.gov.za)
