Host nation South Africa is to refurbish five existing stadiums and build five new venues for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, in terms of an agreement with international football association Fifa.
Briefing the media at Parliament on Monday, Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation Gert Oosthuizen said new stadiums will be built at Polokwane in Limpopo, Mbombela in Mpumalanga, in the Nelson Mandela metro in the Eastern Cape, in KwaZulu-Natal’s eThekweni metro and in Cape Town.
He said the Cape Town stadium, on the site of the existing Green Point track, will be a ”totally new facility”, and will include a dome that can be closed in bad weather.
Stadiums to be refurbished and upgraded include three in Gauteng — Soccer City, Ellis Park and Loftus Versveld — as well as the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, in North West, and Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein.
The only province to miss out on the 2010 World Cup, at least as far as hosting matches goes, is the Northern Cape.
Oosthuizen said the government has allocated R242-million towards planning for the stadiums.
”The spread of the announced stadiums indicates that government acted swiftly to scrap the imbalance between rugby and soccer fields.
”Furthermore, we have tilted the scales in respect of stadiums in favour of the people. The five new [ones] will be owned by the municipalities on behalf of the citizens of South Africa,” he said.
Great progress has been made towards preparing for 2010, and ”everything is on track”, he assured journalists.
Earlier at the briefing, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor said building or refurbishing the stadiums will provide opportunities for communities and institutions to show their skills in construction, tourism and marketing.
”We are on track with building a lasting legacy from hosting the 2010 World Cup. Those in charge of football must play their part and prepare a winning squad for the tournament,” she said. — Sapa