“A safe and secure 2010 FIFA World Cup”
Let me first take this opportunity to thank all of you for the good work that you have done since yesterday, which clearly demonstrates your commitment to help us to deliver a peaceful 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Our sincere gratitude goes to all the presenters, who shared with us valuable information, which we believe will enable us to have a common understanding of everyone’s role during the tournament. We specially thank the national Local Organising Committee (LOC) representative Mr Mlungisi Ncame for giving us a national perspective of issues and advice on the dos and don’ts of the tournament.
The plan that we have formulated together in this summit will be presented to the provincial government 2010 Summit to be held in January for integration into other activities of government. As we close this summit, I am convinced that exactly after two years since all role players met in Port Elizabeth, we are still on course in our mission to:
* Extend an unforgettable South African welcome to the world
* Mobilise the people of the Eastern Cape to be part of this African World Cup
* Strengthen collaboration amongst various stakeholders.
Today, we can collectively agree that the Province of the Eastern Cape is ready!
We know that there are still some loose ends that we need to tighten, especially with regard to:
* the management of the movement of people during the World Cup from a security point of view
* strengthening our capacity as various role players
* tapping on each others’ expertise in order to make maximum use of the resources that we have at our disposal
* improving communication amongst various stakeholders, especially between the spheres of government
* ensuring maximum participation of communities in the tournament.
Going forward, our transportation system and safety and security plans are going to be under extreme scrutiny as we are expected to deliver world-class transportation system and a sound safety and security plan. On many occasions, the two are interlinked and require strong collaboration between the stakeholders involved.
If we are not prudent enough, our lack of decisiveness, especially at local government level has a potential to frustrate our transport and security plans. This refers to the ever increasing number of Public Viewing Areas (PVAs), which are the responsibility of municipalities.
A few months ago, we knew that we had a Fan Park in Nelson Mandela Bay and PVAs in Buffalo City, Makana, Matatiele, Cofimvaba, Lady Grey and Port St Johns.
As we speak, we have 11 PVAs and our law enforcement agencies are expected to develop new plans and deploy the already limited resources to those areas.
At some point, we need to close this identification of PVAs and focus on popularising the already identified venues and ensure that we have proper crowd control measures.
We really need to start being unambiguous about the role of communities in the PVAs. We are all in agreement that we are going to need extra hands in order to manage the crowds and we need to accelerate our pace in engaging communities in order to ensure that right people are chosen to participate in the volunteer programme. This will assist us in ensuring that they get the necessary training and form part of the dry runs.
We have already missed that training opportunity in March 2009 when Bafana Bafana was playing against Norway and we had a PVA in Port St Johns.
Again, during the Confederations Cup, we should have already had these volunteers in order to get the necessary experience.
The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is also intending to recruit first-aid volunteers, which means that we need to start popularising that programme to ensure maximum participation of our people, especially the youth. We further need to re-enforce our EMS capacity through working together with the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) taking into account the number of PVAs, the Fan Park and the stadium, which will need such a service.
I was impressed by the 2010 FIFA World Cup administration of justice project presentation, which I believe is a model that we need to adopt even beyond the tournament.
The remaining challenge is to ensure that all role players cooperate to avoid our previous experience of community courts, which are currently not functional due to poor participation of the relevant role players.
The issue of understanding foreign languages should not only be pursued by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. All our law enforcement agencies need to go through a “crash course” in main foreign languages as they will be the first point of call for stranded tourists and we cannot afford to be impeded by language barriers.
The last critical point is the issue of command and control of our law enforcement agencies, especially at the stadium. Mr Ncame has vindicated our position that the SAPS should assume overall command of all security arrangements.
This includes giving direction to the private security companies that will be working inside the stadium. The VOC will be the centre of power! If anything goes wrong, I will be expected to account and the SAPS, which are under my political authority, must take responsibility.
As we move closer to the tournament, we are going to intensify our interaction with the Host City in order to ensure that everything goes according to this over-arching plan that we have adopted in this summit.
In conclusion, I would like to once more express my sincere gratitude for your contribution in this summit hoping that come 2010, we will all be ready.
Drive back home safely and arrive alive.
I thank you.
Enquiries:
Ncedo Kumbaca
Tel: 043 604 7584
E-mail: nossy.mzini@dot.ecprov.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Transport, Eastern Provincial Government
6 November 2009
