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Thumbs-up for Nelspruit stadium
22/02/2008 08:52 - (SA)
Gcina Ntsaluba
Nelspruit - The Mbombela 2010 stadium in Nelspruit was given the thumbs-up on Thursday by the Federation of International Football Association's (Fifa) technical inspection team.
This is despite the fact that the stadium is being built on land that was irregularly bought from the Matsafeni land claims community for just R1, and workers have gone on three strikes since November last year.
"We are quite happy with where the construction is so far," said Ron DelMont, head of Fifa South Africa after the site inspection on Thursday.
He said the strikes and issue of land ownership surrounding the stadium were not Fifa's concern and should be addressed by the provincial 2010 organising committee.
Head of South Africa's Local Organising Committee for 2010, Dennis Mumble, said the delegation did not visit the stadium to interrogate the workers.
"We did not come here to interrogate the workers, we will leave that to the local authorities," he said.
In the latest strike, labourers downed tools from Tuesday to Friday last week demanding that their wage of R10 per hour be raised to R19 per hour to bring them on par with workers building other 2010 stadiums in the country.
Last year, workers went on strike twice in November and December demanding bonuses and transport allowances.
It was agreed that the workers would get a project bonus of R2 000 each by December 14, which totals R904 000.
Provincial 2010 director, Desmond Golding, has said the original deadline for construction was March 31, 2009, but that it was extended by two months to cater for any more disruptions.
The new deadline is May 31, 2009.
The inspections of the six stadiums that will be hosting Soccer World Cup games started at Ellis Park on Monday and will end in Bloemfontein on Friday.
Fifa's secretary general, Jerome Valcke, said in a press statement this week: "Fifa sets the bar very high for its venues and facilities. The inspections offer a great opportunity to interact with the various parties involved in the venues to review the current status of affairs and to see first-hand the progress."
- African Eye
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