McKenzie fears Soweto derby an ‘accident waiting to happen’ and wants solution

Continuing traffic, ticketing and crowd control problems during the Soweto Derby have raised the ire of sport, arts, and culture minister Gayton McKenzie, who has raised concerns that the event is an accident waiting to happen.

On Saturday, there were traffic, ticketing and crowd control issues, leading to congestion in access and more people than allowed into FNB Stadium to watch the Betway Premiership clash between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, won 3-0 by Bucs.

It was the second time in recent seasons that there was a crowd larger than the 2010 World Cup final venue’s 94,000 capacity for the Soweto Derby, leading to unruly incidents, which McKenzie said on Wednesday is a cause for serious concern.

In some instances, fans overpowered security to encroach on the media area and enter some of the VIP areas.

There were also issues during the marquee league clash between Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns at the same venue on February 18, which was marred by issues of access relating to scanning of tickets.

During those two big matches, the kickoff was not delayed, but many people with legitimate tickets could not see most of the match because of the delays outside the ground. These related to a new digital ticketing system introduced at FNB by Stadium Management South Africa (SMSA), the company that oversees the venue, aimed at reducing the threat from fake printed tickets.

McKenzie, who was also stuck in the traffic gridlock last weekend despite travelling with a blue-lights escort, said a lasting solution must be found to the congestion, access and ticketing issues to avoid another stadium disaster such as Ellis Park in April 2001.

“It is an accident or massacre waiting to happen,” the minister said. “I left my house at 1pm and arrived at the stadium at 3pm, and we have blue lights. I ask myself, ‘What about a person who left their house at the same time and they don’t have blue lights?’

“It has become tiring because we are always stuck in traffic and that’s not the way to watch football. The stadium accommodates 94,000 people, and once you have 94,200 people inside there, it is a recipe for disaster.

“This is not a new thing we are seeing here; it has been there, and we can’t continue saying something is going to happen. We must do something to prevent it from happening.”

Offering his thoughts on solutions, McKenzie said organisers of the event should use the railway system to alleviate traffic congestion.

“We are going to speak to the minister of transport, Barbara Creecy, because we want to open the rail transport lines. We want to speak to Stadium Management South Africa, because we have to find a better way around this.

“I have taken the lead to ask the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa what is possible because with the rugby we open the railway lines, which was a brilliant intervention. We are going to speak to minister Creecy to open those train lines at FNB Stadium.

“We have the prices for the reopening of those lines because that will ease congestion.”

He said the ticketing system and issues of security deployment must also be looked into.

“We looked at the ticketing system; it’s a mess. You get to your seat, and somebody is sitting there, and you can be stabbed because someone is drunk at that time.

“We need more security because we have had the Orkney and Ellis Park disasters, [which involved] Chiefs vs Pirates games. We are not a learning people; we have not seen enough because people have lost their lives. We are commemorating those lives.

“Our intervention is going to be painful, strict, intentional and results-driven. There is no Messiah or one person coming here to fix this thing. It must be a team effort with Johannesburg metro police, the department of sport, arts and culture, SMSA, Chiefs’ and Pirates’ management.

“Chiefs’ and Pirates’ management must understand they are the victims of their own success; they have done the marketing, and people love these teams.

“We must look at the alternatives, and as a department we must also play our part with fan parks — that’s what they do overseas. We need to make sure people can watch the game from outside the stadium.

“Because when they hear that a goal has been scored, they push to enter the stadium. There are lots of interventions [that can be instituted], and I want that meeting to be an open one.

“I want the media to be there so that they can see.”

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