NO single factor can be said to have been decisive in the Ellis
Park Stadium soccer stampede tragedy on April 11 last year, said
Transvaal Judge President Bernard Ngoepe, who headed the commission
of inquiry into the disaster.
In his interim report, recently handed to President Thabo Mbeki
and publicly released on Thursday, Ngoepe said the disaster was the
result of a combination of many factors.
Forty-three soccer fans died and 120 were injured in a stampede
at the stadium, where an important Premier Soccer League (PSL)
match between rivals Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates was getting
under way that evening.
Among other things, all possible match attendance was grossly
underestimated by all involved. This must be seen as ”the
fundamental cause of the tragedy”.
”No plans were in place to deal with a capacity crowd, let alone
a crowd in excess thereof (as turned out to be the case).”
”All the role players were remiss in not adequately taking
previous experiences into account in their planning during
operational meetings.”
Other factors included the failure to clearly identify and
designate areas of responsibility, which resulted in certain
security functions either not being carried out properly, or at
all.
Evidence showed there was a ”dereliction of duty” on the part of
certain security officials.
”The evidence is compelling that there was no particular person
in overall command of the joint operations centre, or of the entire
event, who would receive all the information and take a decision.
”Instead, there was a collection of independent heads of
security groupings, all of whom, to this day, deny that they
carried the ultimate responsibility; nobody had the final authority
to issue commands from the centre. This was a glaring weakness in
the security plans.
”The evidence shows that the joint operation centre was there by
name only, in that the persons therein did not operate in a
collective or co-ordinated manner; at least not in the way they
should have,” Ngoepe said.
There had also been a failure to adhere to guidelines set down
by the international soccer body Fifa and the South African
Football Association’s (Safa) guidelines, that a game should not
start until the situation inside and outside the stadium was under
control.
Other factors included an inadequate public address system, a
failure by the public order police unit to ”act timeously and
effectively”, uncontrolled ticket sales, and traffic congestion
around the stadium.
However, it would be inappropriate to put all the blame on the
game organisers.
”South African soccer spectators need to appreciate that their
own conduct is as critical a factor as any other in the maintenance
of safety and security at the stadium.”
The report said the stampede tragedy started well before the
game got under way.
The game started shortly after 8pm, and from all accounts, ”it
is clear that at the time it started many people had already been
injured and lives lost”.
”This tragedy started unfolding well before the game started,”
he said.
At about 7.15pm announcements were made that tickets were sold
out and the stadium was full.
However, these were not heeded, and over-capacity crowd
continued to force their way into the stadium, ripping apart
entrance gates, and creating waves of people security personnel
could not stop.
Thousands of spectators entered the stadium without going
through control points, as the gates, including roller shutter
doors, had been broken.
With the large numbers going through the gates, people were
pushed and crushed.
After control at the perimeter fence was lost between 7.15pm and
8.10pm the stadium was bursting at its seams.
”Some of the victims were taken from the stand and made to lie
behind the northern goal posts while the match was still in
progress,” the report said.
”It took the then chief executive officer of the PSL to stop the
game; this was about (8.40pm).
”Victims were shown on the screen in the stadium — a wise move
which made the spectators appreciate why the game had been stopped.
The medical and paramedical teams sprang into action.”
As the game was abandoned, 43 people lost their lives and 158
were injured.
”Post mortem reports indicate the death in each case as due to
crush or stampede,” the report said.
Ngoepe said that as the report was merely an interim one, it did
not include recommendations on how to prevent a re-occurrence.
This would require further research, consultation and
comparative studies, he said. – Sapa