S Ndebele: Building of King Senzangakhona Stadium

25 July 2006

Breaking down the old, building the new

Our recent trip to witness first hand the hosting of the 2006 FIFA German
World Cup brought home to us that certainly in our own lifetime, the holding of
the 2010 South African FIFA Soccer World Cup will be an experience and
opportunity larger than anything we have ever had before, and will certainly
not have in the years beyond. We began to see how our "2010 and beyond"
strategy will unfold and ensure that we take full advantage of the 2010 FIFA
World Cup in South Africa to firmly establish ourselves as Africa's premier
sporting, conference and tourism centre.

KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), land of opportunities

The event starts with stadia because without them there can be no soccer
played. Millions of tickets were sold in Germany and it was wonderful to see
full stadia, no matter which teams were playing. The event needs well organized
infrastructure to not only get fans to and from the stadia, but to ensure the
huge logistics in holding such an event are properly organised. A major part of
that infrastructure will be communications systems to ensure the world
witnesses this remarkable event. And beyond the immediate confines of the
stadium and its precinct is the opportunity to offer millions of tourists the
opportunity to witness the pleasures of our city, region and continent.

Each time our country is mentioned in the next four years as we build up to
2010, we must imprint on the minds of those who listen that we are a city and
region of opportunity, in a land of goodwill and on a continent taking its
place with pride amongst the communities of nations.

During the event itself around 40 billion people will cumulatively have
witnessed the beautiful game played in our country. Some will get glimpses of
our glorious beaches, game reserves and wonderful people. Others will be seeing
the economic opportunities whilst most will be saying they must visit this
country of art, culture, music, sports and above all incredible history.

And if we are to be recognised in those thousands of images which are
continually being sent out around the 2010 FIFA World Cup event, then we must
brand ourselves simply and consistently. Each time we take a step towards the
opening of the event, let's make sure that as the host city within the
beautiful province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and let's brand our selves as one.
Our bid recognises the host city of Durban which lies in the province of
KwaZulu-Natal.

Durban, KZN

I would respectfully like to suggest today that the brand that we should be
promoting for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup should be "Durban, KZN", so that
the tens of millions of people who see us, hear us and read about us will want
to find our more about this beautiful city, all its other beautiful places and
our wonderful province. They will log onto the internet and find "Durban,
KZN".

People around the world will not only remember our province and associate
the word “zulu” with it, they will look forward to us offering a world class
extravaganza in 2010, before and beyond.

Each municipality in our province of KwaZulu-Natal, from eThekwini to
Umkanyakude to Msundusi to Zululand to Ugu must embrace that simple brand as we
sell it to the world at large. This message must be consistent so that as
people want to find more about "Durban, KZN" they will find out more about all
of us.

We must all own this. I would therefore like to suggest that the city
manager also draft a report for cabinet and all of the municipalities in our
provinces, which will allow us to search out an appropriate logo to match our
brand, and be in synergy with the one our president recently launched in
Berlin. The public must be involved and the city manager tells me they will be
opening up a website to get ideas, and encourage our involvement in putting
forward ideas. And part of this will be to appoint a team to make the final
selection of the host-city logo which I hope we will launch by the end of
August 2006, and be simply called "Durban, KZN".

Today's demolition of the final stand is the last part of breaking down the
old so that in the next six to eight weeks, we can start to build the new King
Senzangakhona. In this stadium we have many memories. Some were of our past
which divided us. It is going to be a landmark.

Opposite this stand was the stand for people defined as Indian, over there
was where Africans could watch and in this stadium only whites were allowed to
buy tickets. In time that policy was replaced and today we know that we have
buried it forever.

But out on the pitch some great teams played and we all have find memories
of the sporting battles and derbies. We have among you today some of our
greats, veterans, owners and current players. Thanks for all you have done to
bring the beautiful game to Durban, KZN.

Multi purpose

The stadium that you will see here in days to come will be the multi-purpose
King Senzangakhona Stadium, which will be a monument to a province reborn, a
province turning its scars into stars. It will be a unifying and edifying
symbol for KwaZulu-Natal. We will host a multi-purpose centre here so that we
can showcase our province to the world, it will host a museum of artefacts and
great symbols.

I am advised by Ms Julie-May Ellingson who is driving the stadium process
that we are on track with the detailed designs for our new stadium and in the
next few weeks I am sure she will be telling you more about that. Soon, the
construction will start in earnest, commencing with the earthworks and piling
in the next few weeks and, full construction by the end of the year. As we get
things happening here I know she has plans to fill other spaces with parks and
high performance centres, all of which is part of our broader 2010 and beyond
strategy. So as we push the button and bury the past, let's lift our heads high
that Durban, KZN will play its part in delivering the greatest world cup
ever!

But we are not only building the stadium and ignoring what needs to be done
to put players on that field in 2010 and beyond.

Soccer Strategy:

We are busy developing our Provincial Soccer Strategy which is based on four
pillars:

* hosting of the event in July 2010
* development of provincial soccer
* communications and marketing strategy
* development of KZN Legacy Projects for 2010 and beyond.

The fast track building of the stadium falls in line with the provincial
emphasis for the development of soccer here. There is already a clear plan of
how soccer development will be rolled out from schools to professional clubs in
the province. This will be done in partnership with the South African Football
Association (SAFA) and the selected provincial soccer clubs.

Having started at schools’ level to develop soccer, has given the province
the opportunity to also look at soccer development outside of schools. The
youth who are outside the school system are given a chance to become part of
this exciting sport. This is where the soccer veterans have come in to assist
with a talent search throughout the province. All these activities will
culminate in a possible Premier's Cup, which will be held later in the
year.

Legacy projects are those projects which will outlast 2010. They will be
projects which will start within a few months with an intention to prepare the
province for 2010, but which will intentionally or deliberately be structured
such that they yield long-term socio-economic benefits for the people of the
province of KZN, particularly in the areas outside the main towns.

We would like people not just to remember what happened in 2010, but we want
them to live off the benefits associated with such an enormous event for a long
time after the event has come and passed.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
25 July 2006
Source: SAPA