Print |  Email | Text size   

Government assessment of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™

14 July 2010

1. Introduction

In the last few days, there has been unanimous opinion by domestic and international observers, amongst them international football fans, visiting Heads of State and other dignitaries, and most especially FIFA, that the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, the first to the hosted in Africa, was a success.

Government is hosting this briefing today, three days after the completion of the first FIFA World Cup™ on African soil, to provide an overall assessment on how the event proceeded, particularly as it pertains to government guarantees signed with FIFA. The guarantees included, amongst others, delivery of infrastructure and logistics, policing, justice, finance and tax exemption, as well as immigration services.

According to FIFA, a total of 3.1 million spectators attended the 64 matches of the tournament, the third highest aggregate attendance behind the United States in 1994 and Germany in 2006. This figure excludes the millions of people who watched World Cup games at fan fests, fan parks and public viewing areas.

2. Infrastructure and logistics

The South African government identified public transport as the key legacy project for this World Cup. Over the past few years, a major capital injection into transport-related infrastructure and operations has begun to produce some important results. 

Given the deep-seated historical legacy of apartheid spatial planning as well decades of under-investment in public transport, it was always appreciated that access and mobility would be a challenge in hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.

However, the investment we’ve put into the sector has paid off, helping the country to rise to the challenge.  Millions of fans travelled around a country three times the size of Germany, primarily through public transport; mainly trains, buses and taxis without any report of a major incidents.

As part of preparations for the World Cup, government upgraded its road and rail infrastructure, airports and introduced new systems such as the Bus Rapid Transit system, known in Johannesburg as Rea Vaya.    

The Gautrain on Wednesday, 2 June 2010, finally moved out of testing and into a fully-fledged operation when its safety permit was handed over to the Bombela Operating Company by Transport Deputy Minister Jeremy Cronin. The Gautrain is a catalyst for economic development in South Africa.

It is worth pointing out that the Gautrain was not earmarked as a World Cup project.  However, the date of completion for the route between OR Tambo International Airport and Sandton was fast-tracked to be operational just in time to carry World Cup passengers. 

The transport milestones developed during the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ form part of the lasting legacy that will be enjoyed by generations of South Africans for many decades, long after the World Cup has come and gone.

All members of the Transport Family, including those spread across the three spheres of government, in particular host cities, and to a range of parastatals in the aviation, rail and road sectors must be credited for their achievements during the World Cup.

We also salute private sector public transport operators, local bus and coach operators and, indeed, the often maligned minibus-taxi industry who have all come to the party and made the country us proud.

3. Policing and justice

The successful delivery on this guarantee related to a synergistic approach from the criminal-justice cluster, which is made up of departments of Police, Justice and Constitutional Development, the National Prosecuting Authority, State Security, Correctional Services.

Police deployment for the World Cup resulted in 40 000 new, well-trained police officers incorporated into the police force. These recruits will remain on the force, leading to a safer South Africa. Government has financed all of this investment out of current expenditure because of our fiscal prudence, as well as the high levels of tax compliance over the years.

The number of police personnel added to the force, as well as the equipment acquired for their use, is one of the important legacies of the World Cup. 

On 9 July 2003, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJ&CD) signed a guarantee to FIFA committing to ensure that all justice related requirements for hosting the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ events will be provided.

Part of the requirements was the development of a 2010 FIFA World Cup™ Administration of Justice Operational Plan.  The plan was developed by all stakeholders of the Integrated Justice System, which includes the DOJ&CD, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Legal Aid South Africa and Judiciary.

The primary objective of the Administration of Justice project was to fast track all criminal matters emanating from the 2009/2010 events and deal with these cases in a fast and efficient way, especially where foreigners are involved, either as a complainant/witness or an accused.

The Administration of Justice Operational Plan included the following elements that were required to contribute to South Africa hosting a successful world cup tournament: the court infrastructure; personnel; court administration; and court security.

The success of this collaboration between all role-players in the JCPS cluster was demonstrated by the fact that football fans and visitors have left South Africa largely proclaiming that reports of crime ahead of the World Cup were largely exaggerated.

Court Infrastructure

Personnel

Court Administration

Definition of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ Case

See Annexure A for statistics from the World Cup courts 

4. Immigration

South Africa’s guarantees to FIFA in terms of immigration related to the issuance of visas including the unique event visa introduced by the country.  It also related to the issuance of permits and priority treatment for FIFA family members and accredited persons.

In support of this objective, the Department of Home Affairs implemented a trio of measures. These comprised the Movement Control System in 34 air and land ports of entry, the Advance Passenger Processing (APP) system and the deployment of Airline Liaison Officers (ALOs) at eight strategic hubs abroad, namely Nairobi, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Dubai, Frankfurt, Lagos, London and Mumbai to monitor the movement of travellers into South Africa

The Department of Home Affairs further prioritised 34 air and land ports of entry including OR Tambo, Cape Town and King Shaka International Airports for daily monitoring, provision of early warning signals and the implementation of contingency planning for the FIFA 2010 World Cup.

The department also signed a Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with its Lesotho and Mozambican counterparts to assist in the establishment of temporary joint border clearance facilities. In addition, government advised several Southern African Development Community (SADC) counterparts to issue their nationals with machine-readable travel documents that will be compatible with our Movement Control System (MCS).

The Movement Control System recorded a total number of foreigners visiting the country for the duration of the tournament as 1 431 138 which represented an increase of approximately 25% when compared to the same period in 2009.

During the same period South Africa’s Advanced Passenger Processing System witnessed a total of 319 undesirables being prohibited from boarding airlines abroad to enter South Africa.

Meanwhile, the Home Affairs Airline Liaison Officers in various international airports abroad have denied entry into South Africa to 202 persons due to possession of fraudulent (visas, permits, travel documents and stamps) documents and failure to meet immigration requirements.

The Movement Control System has, furthermore enabled the country to facilitate the swift departures of national teams that did not qualify for the next rounds of the FIFA World Cup™ including: Greece, Nigeria, Serbia, Slovenia, New Zealand, Denmark, Italy, Korea DPR. Korea Republic, Cote d’ Ivoire, Australia, Honduras, Mexico, Switzerland, USA, England, Japan, Chile, Cameroon and Algeria.

The Movement Control System has further recorded the following nationalities as among the top visitors into the country for the period coinciding with the FIFA World Cup™: SADC: (Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Malawi and Zambia) followed by the UK, USA, Germany, Australia, Brazil and Mexico.

Media reports have in the last few days quoted fans who said the 2010 World Cup was the best they had ever attended because there was not a single incident of hooliganism for the duration of the tournament.  This attests to the efficiency of the systems implemented for the tournament.  These systems will be retained following the tournament and will serve as a legacy of the first FIFA World Cup™ hosted by Africa.

5. Finance

South Africa has always viewed the hosting of the World Cup not as an end in itself, but as a catalyst for development whose benefits would be felt long after the tournament. This is why national government has spent R30 billion on transportation (roads, airports, and ports of entry), telecommunications infrastructure, as well as stadiums (building six new ones and upgrading another four).

The R11.7bn investment in 10 world-class stadiums alone created 66 000 new construction jobs, generating R7.4bn in wages, with R2.2bn going to low-income households and therefore contributing to a reduction in poverty.

Though stadiums have been the most visible part of the World Cup-related expenditure, the lion's share of the expenditure has gone into transportation and telecommunications infrastructure, and the renovations of our ports of entry for visitors.

The government spent R13bn to upgrade train stations near stadiums, improve roads and the massive facelift of our country's airports. Ports of entry received R3.5bn for renovations, including improved information technology infrastructure equipment at borders.

Some R1.5bn has been invested in broadcast technology, much of which was used for broadband internet access. This technology will remain an asset to this country for years to come. The fight against crime has also received a fortifying boost, with R1.3bn being spent on safety and security.

Government always intended that tomorrow should be better than today.  Although it is still too early for a precise indication of the economic benefits the 2010 World Cup will have on our economy analysts, scholars and economists are suggesting it could be billions. 

During the tournament, a StanLib economist, based on an estimation that half a billion viewers around the world watched the Opening Ceremony in Soweto on 11 June 2010 said, if only 0.5% of these viewers travelled to South Africa to experience the country firsthand, this would have a significant effect on South Africa’s economy.  He estimated this could treble our tourism figures over the next four years. 

6. Health

The FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup could not have been successful without an efficient and prepared healthcare system.

To this end, we worked closely with our partners in both the public and private sector to ensure that the country’s healthcare system was ready to respond to and cater to the needs of the country and those of FIFA during this period.

It was important to government that the healthcare system continued to function efficiently even beyond the World Cup.  We are happy that during this period there was no major health-related incident that compromised the tournament.  Most of the incidents that we had to deal with were of a minor nature and we are happy that throughout, the sector displayed its readiness to respond.

Government made massive investments in this regard within the context of its commitment to the country as contained in government programme of action.

The World Cup enabled us to improve on emergency medical services from which our country will benefit from even after the conclusion of the tournament.  We have invested massively on ambulance services both ground and aero-medical services as part of our 2010 legacy strategy.  Equally, we have been able through this project to recruit more EMS personnel who forms an essential element of healthcare delivery in our country.

We worked very closely with the South African Military Health Services to set up the National Health Operations Centre that enabled us to improve our diseases surveillance systems and through this partnership we are confident we will be able to improve on our normal systems as part of providing healthcare services to our people.

Other areas where we have been able to make massive investments include forensic medicine which will now improve the performance of our mortuaries among others which is an area that we always knew needed great improvement.

7.  General

In light of this short assessment, we are proud to say that everything has gone according to plan and that we hosted a successful tournament.  We attribute this to careful planning that began as early as 15 May 2004 when South Africa’s name was drawn from the envelope in Geneva declaring us the host country of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

As South Africans we are proud of what we have achieved in the last few weeks and indeed, in the past 16 years. South Africa will always bear the mark of having hosted the FIFA World Cup™, the first to come to Africa.

Our preparations for the 2010 tournament have already shown that today is already better than yesterday. Improvements in public transport, security, investment and tourism have already been shown to benefit the people of our country.  We only expect to see an increase in this trend.

Annexure A

Statistics for the period ending on Sunday, 11 July 2010

1. Total number of cases

No
 Details
Totals
1
 Total number of cases
205
2
 Total convictions
122
3
 Postponement
42
4
 Acquittals
8
5
 Withdrawals
33
6
 Finalised cases
163

 

2. Breakdown of cases per province

No
Details
Totals
Guilty
Withdrawn
Acquitted
Postponed
1
 Gauteng
87
49
21
6
11
2
 Limpopo
6
5
0
0
1
3
 KwaZulu-Natal
8
6
1
1
0
4
 Western Cape
62
32
9
0
21
5
 Eastern Cape
22
14
1
1
6
6
 Free State
7
5
1
0
1
7
 North West
7
7
0
0
0
8
 Northern Cape
0
0
0
0
0
9
 Mpumalanga
6
4
0
0
2
Total
205
122
33
8
42

 

3. Cases statistics in percentage form

GP WC LP EC KZN FS NW MP NC
87
62
6
22
8
7
7
6
0
42.22%
30.24%
2.93%
10.73%
3.90%
3.41%
3.41%
2.93%
0%

 

4. Crime types

Theft
Selling FIFA Tickets
Fraud
Common Robbery
Posession of stolen goods
Trespassing
Driving under the influence
Culpable Homicide
Malicious damage to Property
71
23
13
12
11
6
7
2
4
34.63%
11.22%
6.34%
5.85%
5.37%
2.93%
3.41%
0.98%
1.95%


5. Total number of accused persons

Residents
Non Residents
137
102

Issued by: Government Communications (GCIS)
footer

Bookmark and Share

top

 

Last updated 16-Aug-2010

 

footer