On Monday Parliament will pass into law the 2010 Fifa World Cup Special Measures Bill. The proposed new Act will have a bearing on numerous issues, particularly the spaces traditionally used by informal traders immediately outside the stadiums.
There has been concern that the economic guarantees between world football’s governing body, Fifa, and the South African government will, in essence, preclude hawkers from directly benefiting from the economic spin-offs of the World Cup.
As far back as last year the Congress of South African Trade Unions had voiced its concerns, arguing that it was futile to raise the expectations of many unemployed people about the financial benefits of the showpiece when rules governing its staging specifically sidelined them.
On Tuesday 2010 chief executive Danny Jordaan addressed the National Assembly sports committee and the National Council of Provinces education and sports committee to allay these fears. In a bold statement, he said the World Cup would create more than 129 000 jobs.
Although it is true that the tournament will help increase employment numbers, it is a fallacy to think that suddenly there will be a work boom in the country. Fifa keeps no statistics on the economic implications of the World Cup, and there are no numbers to use as benchmarks for making such assertions.
The country will reap economic benefits after the event via tourism. And, certainly, the profile of the country will rise significantly. But, again, it is debatable how many people, individually, will benefit directly.
The chairperson of the portfolio committee on sport and recreation, Butana Kompela, says the new law ”limits conflicts and avoids potential litigations. After the meeting [with Jordaan] everyone was happy and business was telling us that they support the World Cup and said they were available to help in whatever capacity they were needed.”
Another crucial area the Bill addresses is the concerns raised by business about the loss of revenue as a result of the naming rights of stadiums. During the World Cup most of the stadiums will be renamed to avoid conflict between Fifa and its commercial partners.
Vodacom and Absa, in particular, were unhappy about the deal and had threatened to seek compensation via the courts.
In addressing the issue, Jordaan used an example that arose a few months ago where, in our domestic league, Absa refused to stage a final between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs at FNB stadium. He pointed out that Absa’s refusal was no different from Fifa’s argument.
”There is nothing different, this is consistent with what Fifa wants and it’s a practice that is not new to South Africans,” said Jordaan.
Meanwhile, it remains unclear whether many South Africans will be able to attend the matches in their own stadiums. Michael Palmer, head of the Fifa delegation in South Africa, insists that the problem is not as much about ticket prices as about their quantity and availability.
The local market will fight for an allocation of only one-million tickets, based on a lottery system.
Palmer says one of the biggest challenges will not be accommodating fans in the stadiums, but how the country provides public viewing spaces for the hordes of fans who will be travelling as tourists.
In Germany, many fans watched the games on public screens set up in host cities. Officials recorded that these areas had more spectators than were in the stadiums.
If the same trend continues in South Africa in 2010, it will have a serious bearing on policing.
Kompela said the issue of how to beef up security during the tournament was also discussed in Parliament this week. Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Bridgette Mabandla has to declare as peace officers many of the marshals who will be employed during the tournament.
Jordaan also disclosed this week that in a bid to help South Africa host a successful tournament and ensure that the national team does well in the month-long event, Fifa has given the South African Football Association (Safa) $10-million to start the process of rebuilding Bafana Bafana.
At the end of the week Jordaan flew to Brazil, accompanied by Safa technical committee head Sturu Pasiya, to finalise the deal to bring coach Carlos Alberto Parreira to the country.
Bafana Bafana play a friendly against Namibia on August 16 and for that match Parreira is expected to be on the bench alongside his future assistant, Pitso Mosimane, who is currently the stop-gap coach.