B Creecy on Gauteng State of Province Address

17 February 2009

FIFA 2010 World Cup and 477 days and counting In 120 days, we will face our
biggest test ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup - the dress rehearsal for the 2010 FIFA
World Cup kicks off in Gauteng on 14 June. We are ready to welcome the seven
countries (Brazil, Egypt, Italy, Iraq, New Zealand, Spain, and United State of
America (USA)) who, together with South Africa, will compete in the
Confederations Cup.

Hosting almost fifty percent of the Confederations Cup matches, as well as
the opening and closing games, will test our state of readiness in the "Home of
Champions". The lessons we learn will feed into our ongoing preparation for the
final spectacle in 2010.

Our key challenge now is to ensure that all our people and communities
derive maximum benefit from the event. The ten 2010 world-class match venues
across the country will position us to host major sporting events. South
Africans will also benefit in years to come from new and upgraded transport,
broadcasting, information and telecommunications infrastructure, as well as
many other improved facilities.

Tourism

It is widely accepted that foreign fans will make the most immediate and
direct contribution to South Africa's economy. The Gauteng Provincial
Government (GPG) wants to ensure that as many of these visitors, as well as the
teams and their huge support entourages locate themselves in Gauteng. A
conservative estimate suggests that if we could encourage one hundred thousand
fans to stay in our province for as little as three days, we would inject R300
million into our economy.

To do this, we are working hard to overcome two key obstacles: the shortfall
in accommodation and, more importantly, the negative impact of the world
recession on global tourism.

The grading process continues on hotel and non-hotel based rooms. MATCH has
also identified Base Camp Hotels and is awaiting final approval from FIFA.

Together with MATCH, the Gauteng Tourism Authority, and the Gauteng Economic
Development Agency (GEDA), we have identified some of the world's top football
nations. In particular, we are targeting countries in Africa and South America.
Last year the Gauteng provincial government visited eight Brazilian cities to
market our province as a 2010 destination. In March this year, we host a
Soccerex Forum in Brazil. This will give the provincial government a more
significant opportunity to market the province as a 2010 destination and follow
up some of the relationships we established last year.

Tickets for the Confederations Cup have been on sale since the end of
November 2008, and we urge the people of Gauteng to support our national team.
The 2010 unit is currently developing a programme aimed at providing a limited
number of sponsored tickets to fans in disadvantaged areas to attend Bafana
Bafana qualifier games played in our province.

Public viewing

The official integration of fan parks into the FIFA programme in Germany
2006 resulted in an estimated 18 million people watching the games at these
venues. A key element of this mode of viewing is the emphasis on providing a
hospitable environment, in which the local public are encouraged to demonstrate
tolerance and to make fans feel at home, thus creating an atmosphere of
goodwill between citizens of different nations and diffusing possible
tensions.

The province is in the process of finalising a framework to guide the
implementation and management of the public viewing areas, in consultation with
host cities, non-host cities and the Local Organising Committee (LOC). The
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has committed to make the
broadcast signal available free of charge to non-commercial public viewing
areas (PVAs) for the 2010 tournament.

The host cities will have one official fan park per match venue and at a
least two PVAs in 2010. We are engaging various stakeholders to ensure that the
excitement of the world cup is experienced not only by host cities, and we will
collaborate with sponsors to set up at least one PVA in each district
municipality.

The fan parks and PVAs provide easier access to fans that are unable to
obtain or afford tickets to the matches and will provide an excellent
opportunity to showcase the province's rich cultural diversity. Plans are
underway to pilot more PVAs in Metsweding and Sedibeng districts for the
forthcoming Bafana Bafana games.

The economic impact of 2010

In addition to the short-term social benefits to arise from the world's
greatest sporting spectacle, efforts are already underway to derive long-term
economic transformation from the world cup.

Our partner economic development agencies have initiated several
interventions that are starting to bear fruit. These initiatives emphasise
long-term sustainable opportunities by building trade and investment links for
Small Medium Micro Enterprises in Gauteng and also to make local firms more
competitive in the global arena and broaden the scope of commercial world cup
opportunities beyond the exclusive rights of sponsors.

In March, we will be taking up to 25 South African based companies,
including some in telecommunications, events management, hospitality and waste
management sectors to "Soccerex Brasilia" to explore business opportunities.
With Brazil hosting the 2014 FIFA world cup, it is logical that our proactive
approach to business development and 2010 marketing and promotion specifically
targets Brazil.

We also expect additional long-term benefits from the exposure of the region
to the world through the presence of visitors and media. Estimates are that 24
to 28 billion television viewers' worldwide will watch the 2010 FIFA world cup,
presenting remarkable opportunities for collaborative marketing with
international sponsors and investor targeting.

In Germany, visitors spent millions of Euro on mementos and souvenirs.
Gauteng crafters will also benefit by producing high quality gifts, as well as
lower cost memorabilia and souvenirs related to the event. The Gauteng craft
and design centre product development program has already begun to produce a
range of 2010 products with local crafters.

Volunteers

Apart from the thousands of jobs that have been created in the preparations
through constructing stadiums and other infrastructure such as airports, roads
and trains, the German experience has demonstrated how the world cup itself
will create employment. The LOC in Germany employed 85 185 people, and 15 000
volunteers were contracted, similar levels of employment are expected in South
Africa in 2010. As part of preparations for the 2009 confederations cup and the
2010 FIFA world cup respectively, the department has begun recruiting and
training an additional 1 200 non host city volunteers in areas such as customer
care, communication, protocol, marshalling, and health and disaster
management.

Using 2010 to build the love of sport in communities Sport and Recreation
South Africa (SRSA), in partnership with the 2010 FIFA world cup LOC and the
nine provinces, have launched the 2010 Mass Mobilisation Programme (MMP) and
road show. The mass participation programme will ensure that all South Africans
are part of the 2010 FIFA world cup excitement by encouraging and supporting
sport in communities throughout South Africa.

Gauteng's 2010 mass participation program's mobilisation and awareness
campaigns kicked off in February and targeted between 500 to 1 000 people in
each of the five provincial mass participation clusters. These initiatives will
speed up sports development in the province through targeted training
programmes facilitated by soccer legends such as Phil Masinga, Mark Fish, Lucas
Radebe and Desiree Ellis, the 2010 FIFA world cup Ambassadors.

Our mass participation programme is also implementing the "Heart to Heart
Campaign" in partnership with Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA). This
project will pair a local school with a country participating in the world cup.
The purpose of the project is to welcome and support overseas teams taking part
in the event by teaching local schoolchildren about the culture of their
partner country.

The schoolchildren will learn about "their country", its history and
culture, and support "their country's" team during their participation in the
world cup. The team will be welcomed on their arrival by the school, and will
pay a visit to the school during their stay. The school will be present at
games in which "their country" will play, and will act as local supporters of
the team, wearing the national side's colours, and emulating spectator
behaviour of that country.

Where to next after 2010

If we want to compete with more experienced nations in the competitive sport
sector we have to be well organised in our approach. Gauteng has already
diversified into hosting motor sports and this coming weekend we are all
looking forward to hosting the A1 Grand Prix at Kyalami.

We are currently working on a feasibility study on "what's next", a vision
for the period beyond the hosting of the 2010 FIFA world cup. This study
explores the suitability of Gauteng's infrastructure to host major events after
2010 and develop a short list of events that the GPG can bid for in the
future.

Creative industries

The Craft Development Strategic Framework is a second economy strategy that
focuses on the particular challenges of craft producers, including improving
economic opportunities, in order to create decent work and to improve the terms
on which crafters are able to participate in the economy.

In March, we will launch the Gauteng Craft and Design Centre, the primary
vehicle for the delivery of programmatic interventions. The centre will lead
the way for crafters and set new trends. The programmes implemented by the CDC
will ensure that crafters' products reach markets and that market information
vital to grow their businesses reaches the craft producers. The centre will
develop a viable, market driven craft industry that draws on our province's
diverse cultural history, on our creative energy and our capacity for
innovation.

The 4th International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies World
Summit takes place this year in Johannesburg. The summit will focus on the role
of public arts policies in meeting the wider economic, social and cultural
challenges facing the world. Key decision makers in arts policy, drawn from
arts funding agencies and cultural organisations around the world, will discuss
the impact of arts and culture policies, with a special focus on the developing
world.

Plans are underway to host our first Creative Industries Conference in
Gauteng in partnership with the British Council. The conference will explore
the growth of the Creative Economy in Africa, South Africa and Gauteng in
particular. It will also provide a platform to launch the Gauteng Creative
Mapping Project (GCMP) and its respective reports.

At last year's Soccerex, we launched the Gauteng Jazz Orchestra. The
orchestra is bringing together the very best jazz musicians under the patronage
of jazz legends to host seasonal jazz concerts in venues across Gauteng, while
providing opportunities to younger jazz musicians through internships.

Creative arts

Implementation plans for the Pale Ya Rona Carnival this year include a
large-scale skills transfer program to develop a pool of skilled carnival
practitioners. This year we hope to increase the number of participants to
20,000. On 24 March this year, the department will launch the Gauteng Carnival
Commission. This commission will play the lead role in delivering the carnival.
A Bill and Act will be drafted to allow the Gauteng Carnival Commission to
raise funds and operate independently from 2009.

The Gauteng Arts and Culture Council (GACC) is the primary vehicle through
which the department identifies and develops young talent. From November last
year, the GACC led various road shows across Gauteng to inform various
stakeholders, organisations and individuals about the new funding procedures.
Greater emphasis has been placed on capacity building and training workshops
with those organisations who do not comply. For the first time this year,
bursaries will be awarded to post graduate students with the aim of assisting
the department with research in the Arts and Culture area.

The range and depth of the various initiatives outlined here leaves us in no
doubt that Gauteng will deliver a successful 2010 world cup. At the same time,
communities throughout the province will extract the maximum short-term and
long-term social and economic benefits from the world's greatest sporting
event.

For more information contact:
Nomazwe Ntlokwana
Tel: 011 355 2578
Cell: 083 507 8068

Issued by: Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Gauteng
Provincial Government
17 February 2009
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government (http://www.gautengonline.gov.za)