By Tabisa Mntengwana
11 November 2009

EASTERN Cape is set to have safe and secure accommodation, tourism sites and public viewing areas during the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.

This was confirmed by various stakeholders at the second two-day Safety and Security Summit held in East London at the Regent Hotel on 5 and 6 November.

A number of dignitaries and representatives of various stakeholders attended the summit, which aimed to make concrete plans to ensure a safe and secure World Cup. They included people from the Eastern Cape host city, Nelson Mandela Bay; the MEC for transport, safety and liaison, Ghishma Barry; the 2010 provincial representative, Gogo Manqoyi; and members of the tourism industry and local soccer clubs.

Giving her keynote address, Barry spoke about the summit’s objectives, including the readiness of Buffalo City to be a team base camp, the readiness of emergency services and the readiness of law enforcement agencies.

“Today we are here to ascertain our state of readiness for the prestigious soccer extravaganza in order to ensure that we make this historic African World Cup a crime-free event.”

The status of the preparations by the South African Police Service and law enforcement agencies, the readiness of the host city, the implementations of safety volunteer programmes and the safety of public viewing areas, and the readiness of disaster management in the province would be ascertained at the summit, she said.

FIFA had various requirements, she pointed out, including that the South African government strengthen its security measures to guarantee general safety and personal protection, especially at airports, hotels, stadiums, training venues and media centres.

Barry assured attendees that “our ability to manage the security for such an event has been endorsed by FIFA … Some of our law enforcement agencies have worked during other international events such as the Vodacom Cup, British and Irish Lions Tour, World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, Cricket World Cup in 2003 and other sporting events.”

Manqoyi confirmed that the province was ready to host visitors and locals at the football tournament. “So far, we have six public viewing areas in Eastern Cape which are guaranteed to be safe during the World Cup.”

Speaking about the readiness of Buffalo City as a team base camp, the project manager for the City, Roy Young, said: “The city is ready to host any country that is willing to be housed along the coast.”

The municipality would have two public viewing areas, he said, at Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane and Victoria Grounds in King William’s Town. “It wouldn’t be fair to have a viewing area in Mdantsane only; we had to include the inland region in our plans.”