Hon Chairperson, hon Deputy Chairperson and hon members, in 2006 the SA Football Association, supported by the South African government, won the bid to host the Fifa Soccer World Cup. The South African government made the commitment and guarantees to the people of South Africa and Fifa that it would make the prestigious soccer event a success.
In order to oversee the successful preparation of our country for the World Cup, Parliament established an ad hoc committee to monitor progress and the readiness of the host cities and the stadiums. The ad hoc committee comprised a joint effort of both the portfolio and select committees dealing with Energy, Tourism, Police, Transport, Public Enterprises, Health and Home Affairs.
The ad hoc committee, in terms of South Africa's readiness to host the 2010 Fifa World Cup, was tasked with the following: to assess the readiness of various host cities for the 2010 Fifa World Cup and, consequently, enhance ticket sales both locally and internationally; to assess the weaknesses and challenges in the host cities' base camps by encouraging short, medium and long-term intervention; and to encourage the co-ordination and management of the hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup around the various host cities and municipalities where base camps are located.
The delegation made the following findings regarding the readiness of the stadiums for the 2010 Africa Fifa World Cup. Most of the stadiums and the host cities that were visited by the ad hoc committee were ready and their pitches were in a spectacular state and met all of Fifa's requirements. Although there were some concerns about the lights at some stadiums, these concerns have since been resolved in all the areas where they were raised. However, we were informed that the Disability Alliance would lodge a protest over the lack of adequate seats at Soccer City Stadium. The alliance held the view ...