Deputy President seeks Soweto's 2010 support

Yesterday, Tuesday 14 April 2009, Deputy President Baleka Mbete's convoy of 12 cars and two open-top buses carrying government and LOC officials - all shielded by a huge contingent of local and foreign journalists - went to Soweto, home to 1.4 million people, to encourage maximum attendance at the tournaments.

Mbete, the chairperson of government's 2010 inter-ministerial committee, and her huge entourage departed from SAFA House and made stopovers at Bara Mall, Jabulani Mall and Maponya Mall, where she and LOC CEO Danny Jordaan handed over T-shirts and vuvuzelas, and addressed the crowd about the importance of the upcoming two events.

“We know the culture in this country, which is generally to leave the buying of tickets to the last-minute, but we are urging you to go and buy your tickets now to avoid disasters such as the ones that occurred at Ellis Park and in Cote d'Ivoire,” Mbete, flanked by Richard Maponya, told a cheering crowd at Maponya Mall.

Critics continue to lash at LOC for its mediocre handling of the events' marketing, saying their ill-conceived strategy might lead to poor attendance of the games and eventually to the embarrassment of SA and Africa vis-à-vis the international soccer fraternity.

Mbete vowed, however, that the government will do whatever it can to ensure that all the stadiums are filled to capacity come June 2009 and 2010. Some residents told Bizcommunity.com that it was time the government stepped in to help galvanise support for the upcoming two events.

Jordaan, who is said to be frustrated by the slow pace of tickets purchase, said: “We are a bit slow in buying tickets. Therefore, we urge you to start buying your tickets so that you can fill up the stadiums.”

He also said that out of 640 000 tickets allocated to SA for the Confederations Cup, just over 300 000 tickets have already been sold, narrowly reaching the 50% mark and raising questions about the theory that SA is a ‘soccer-mad nation'. He called on the corporate sector to follow Investec's example, which bought 50 000 tickets for the Confederations Cup.

Early this month, LOC issued a statement, saying that 1.6 million tickets have been requested since tickets first went on sale on 20 February 2009, with 70% of applications coming from the rest of the world and only 30% from SA residents - a far cry from the ticket euphoria that gripped Germany at this stage in the previous World Cup, according to reports from Germany.

A few eyebrows were raised at Bara Mall when a Zakumi-like creature wearing ANC colours stood among the crowd and waved at people. A local journalist called the mascot an opportunist practising ambush marketing.