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Wednesday, 31 March 2010 13:59

Creating a South African legacy

With South Africa mere months away from hosting the most important sporting event in its history, the country is abuzz with the hopes and expectations of millions. The finishing touches rapidly are being made to stadiums, guest houses, highways and transportation links in the hope that the country may, as never before, grab the attention of international tourists and investors.

While South Africa is no stranger to playing host to international sporting events, including the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the 2003 Cricket World Cup and, in January 2006, the only street race in the inaugural A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport, it yet has to lay claim to the world’s most watched sporting event, the Fifa Soccer World Cup.

For four weeks in 2010, South Africa will become the centre of the world.

With the eyes of billions of television viewers, an estimated 450 000 international visitors and the cream of the world’s sporting media focused on the southern tip of Africa, much has been invested in ensuring that the event not only makes for good viewing, but also sets the structures for a better society among the South African community.

In addition to the billions of rands committed by the government for the upgrading of infrastructure and the bulk taking place in the host cities, the government has stated publicly that all developments – transport infrastructure in particular – are not only aimed at 2010, but well beyond in an effort to create sustainable infrastructural growth.

What many people do not realise is that in choosing South Africa to bring the World Cup to Africa for the first time, Fifa was not only looking at what the country already had to offer in the form of world-class transport, telecommunications, tourism and sporting infrastructure, but was also very much looking ahead. The huge infrastructural effort in getting the country ready has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Since the announcement of the hosting, South Africa has spent in the region of R5 billion on building and renovating 10 World Cup stadiums, R5.2bn on upgrades to the country’s airports, and R3.5bn on improvements to the country’s road and rail network.

The 2010 Fifa World Cup will be more than the world’s biggest sports gathering – it will be a means to improve the lives of millions of South African and African citizens.

From a stadium perspective, the World Cup has bore witness to renovations that will provide top quality sporting facilities for decades to come. Five of South Africa’s football stadiums including Soccer City and Ellis Park in Johannesburg, Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, the Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg, and Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein have undergone major restructuring for the tournament, catapulting these arenas into the realm of first-world sporting facilities.

While these restructurings have been impressive from an infrastructural standpoint, brand-new stadiums have also been built in Green Point in Cape Town, Mbombela in Mpumalanga, and in the Nelson Mandela Metro in the Port Elizabeth. Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane in Limpopo and Kings Park Stadium in Durban have been rebuilt completely.

The Durban and Cape Town stadiums offer probably the most potential, as they will be utilised as completely new multi-sports facilities post-2010.

One of the major areas highlighted prior to the tournament, and one that most likely will be under the spotlight for years to come, is the country’s healthcare sector.

In the build-up to the event the Department of Health set up a multisectoral and intragovernmental health technical task team that included 15 expert workgroups, a national programme unit and nine provincial programme managers, in a bid to ensure that the sector was prepared adequately for the event.

The importance of such a scheme was shown when R286 million was budgeted to ensure that it delivers on its guarantees, which include providing adequate healthcare infrastructure, 24-hour emergency medical treatment and disaster management to the host cities.

As far back as 2007, the Department of Health noted the progress being made in providing a select service that not only would improve service delivery during the tournament, but also would leave a legacy for the country in years to come.

Examples of some of the improvements made have been the modernising and expanding of the national ambulance fleet, modernising medically strategic communications centres, the enhancement of emergency-care training as well as the modernisation and expansion of aero-medical services.

Although it took a tournament of such stature to fast-forward these developments, the legacy of these changes undoubtedly will benefit the country well into the future.

In a statement to the public in early 2010, Deputy Health Minister Molefi Sefularo said that the final days before the tournament were critical and would be used to verify and confirm processes and conduct routine work to ensure the public health system, including military health services, is fully prepared.

Another sector under scrutiny not only from a tournament perspective but also moving forward, is the nation’s police and security forces.

Members of parliament, the public and private sectors are well aware of South Africa’s reputation for crime, and the response to this has been commendable.

For the tournament, some R665m will be spent on procuring special equipment, including crowd-control equipment, crime scene trainers, unmanned aircraft, helicopters, 10 water cannons, 100 BMWs for highway patrol and the latest body armour.

No less than 300 mobile cameras will be distributed for the event, with four mobile command centres being set up at a cost of around R6m each.

These centres, which feature high-tech monitoring equipment and will be able to receive live footage from air and ground cameras, will continue in the government’s crime-fighting initiatives long after the World Cup has ended.

Not all funding has been allocated specifically for equipment upgrades. The South African Police Service (SAPS) has spent over R640m on the deployment of 41 000 officers specifically for the event, as well as having undertaken a massive recruitment drive to increase general police numbers by 55 000 to over 190 000.

Increased funding has allowed the SAPS to enforce measures such as working closely with international agencies to gather intelligence, focus on border security and pay particular attention to roads leading from airports into the cities -- measures that certainly will aid in the country’s crime initiatives post-2010.

An important area, and one that is bound to be watched, is the transport sector. In a statement to the public, the government said that the transport programme for the World Cup would “ensure the smooth movement of fans, Fifa officials, associates and media”. A vastly improved public transport system will be secured as one of the ‘legacies’ for South Africa.

The Department of Transport, in consultation with the transport sector, created a unique programme labelled the 2010 Transport Action Plan, aimed at integrating transport, security, emergency response as well as socio-economic development.

The main structure of the plan is based upon the principles of:

• accelerating existing transport plans and maximising existing transport infrastructure;

• improving public transport;

• integrating existing transport services; and

• accelerating the implementation of the government’s economic and sustainable development policies.

With the 2010 World Cup transport projects being funded through the Public Transport Infrastructure and System Grant – an allocation of R11.7bn – there have been massive strides in areas relating to national transportation. The government has done phenomenally well in embracing the event in order to spur a transport revolution long needed in the country, by focusing investment on areas such as the improvement of public transport and road infrastructure, rail upgrades, modernisation of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems as well as inner-city mobility systems.

For efficient transportation between host cities, the Department of Transport is preparing to provide a fleet of 2 035 luxury and standard buses, 60 train sets and 1 000 bus coaches. Some 1 400 luxury coaches also are being procured.

The department has stressed that this is not a short-term fix. Once the event is over, these vehicles will be used in local communities.

The government has underlined this by committing to the promise that during 2010, there will be a train available every five minutes in peak times, as well as local train services 14 to 16 hours a day.

The effects of these investments are not restricted to road travel routes, as shown by the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) and its R19.5-billion airport infrastructure expansion programme to meet standard projected growth.

Some of the flagship transport projects for the World Cup and beyond include:

• Khulani Corridor in the Eastern Cape at a cost of R321m;

• N1 and N2 Toll Highway costing R5bn;

• Sani Pass upgrade between South Africa and Lesotho at a cost of R200m; and

•Gauteng Freeway Improvement Scheme at a cost of R23bn.

The Fifa World Cup has come at an ideal time in that new transport links as well as upgrades desperately needed across the country finally have found their way into ‘current’ project portfolios, something that again will benefit the country for decades to come.

Examples include public transport lanes for the M4 motorway and upgrading of the Western Freeway in Durban; a major investment in the rail system, including new stations at Khayelitsha and Century City; the upgrade of Heideveld, Athlone, Langa and the main station in Cape Town; and the construction of the Gautrain Rapid Rail link.

While the 2010 event will be over in a matter of weeks, the legacy procured for the country will bear testimony to all for generations.

According to consulting firm Grant Thornton, the World Cup will inject close to R21.3bn into the South African economy, generating an estimated R12.7bn in direct spending, as well as create an estimated 159 000 new jobs.

While much emphasis of this will be centred on tourism during the event, the indirect spin-offs of an improved image abroad harbours the potential for an even greater impact on the economy.

It is hoped that these infrastructural improvements not only will help improve the lives of South Africans, but also positively influence the perceptions that many foreign investors hold of Africa and South Africa.

As the government works in laying the final foundations for a successful tournament, it is hoped that it will use this opportunity to accelerate the improvement of social services in key areas such as those relating to safety and security, as well as health services.

While these changes are intended to transform the face of its landscape for a global audience, it is essential that South Africa embraces these developments, harbours them and makes full use of its ability in creating positive change for decades to come.

Adam Currie

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