Indaba on World Cup needs

2006-03-29 15:20

Sizwe samaYende

Nelspruit - Mpumalanga will hold an indaba to thrash out soccer development issues ahead of the 2010 soccer World Cup matches.

Sports, arts and culture MEC Nomsa Mtsweni told the legislature on Tuesday afternoon that her department and the South African Football Association (Safa) planned to hold the indaba next month.

"Also, we're in the process of establishing various sub-committees that will look into such issues as safety and security and tourism," Mtsweni said.

She said the host municipality, Mbombela, would employ a project manager by Friday to manage the construction of a stadium.

The stadium will cost R600m, Mtsweni said, and will be situated on community-owned land in Mataffin outside Nelspruit.

Fifa gave Mpumalanga and other rural provinces like North-West, Eastern Cape and Bloemfontein the right to host some of the games when South Africa hosts the soccer showpiece in 2010.

African National Congress (ANC) legislature member Screamer Skhosana warned that the state-of-the-art stadium should not remain a white elephant after the world cup, however.

"I think we should make sure that we have a Premier Soccer League (PSL) team that will use the stadium as a home ground," Skhosana said.

"Most importantly, it would be great if Mpumalanga would have players from this province (in the 2010 Bafana Bafana team)," he added.

Mpumalanga does not have a team in the PSL. It only has Witbank Spurs FC, which campaigns in the first division, Mvela Golden League.

Democratic Alliance (DA) legislature member Anthony Benadie said the main challenge was a lack of accommodation in Nelspruit.

Nelspruit has only 6  430 beds available at hotels and lodges and, according to the Local Organising Committee (LOC), the city will need at least 21  400 beds.

"There will be a sudden surge of bed & breakfasts and lodges, and some people will rent their houses at very high prices," Benadie said.

"Government should however (discourage) people from spending their pension savings on building World Cup accommodation," he added.

Benadie said the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA) also needed to be upgraded in order to meet tourism demands at the time of the World Cup.

- African Eye