Chair, Minister and hon members, I hope the chairperson of the portfolio committee has not joined the SABC's campaign of pretending that the IFP does not exist in the House by not mentioning our participation.
With only 113 days to go to Africa's first Soccer World Cup, it is necessary that we debate and reflect on the safety and wellbeing of all people who attend important sporting and entertainment events on South African soil. South Africa has become one of the world's most popular destinations for the hosting of major international sporting events, but the Ellis Park and the Orkney soccer disasters have highlighted several shortcomings with regard to the current measures that we have in place at our stadia countrywide.
On 11 April 2001, after a soccer match between arch rivals Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, a stampede led to 43 people losing their lives at an overcrowded Ellis Park Stadium. The disaster shocked our nation and led to the establishment of a commission of inquiry, chaired by Justice Ngoepe, to establish what happened on that fateful night and to identify mechanisms to prevent such disasters in the future. Some of the reasons cited in the findings of the commission included corrupt security officials, dereliction of duty by stadium personnel, a poor focus by attendants and lack of proper planning to deal with the capacity crowd.
Role-players had also failed to identify areas of responsibility, resulting in security functions either not being carried out properly or not being carried out at all. There was also undisputed evidence which showed that security personnel accepted bribes to allow spectators without tickets into the stadium. Some access points were unmanned, enabling people to walk through without tickets.
Needless to say, we cannot allow any of the unacceptable and unscrupulous actions cited above to disrupt our successful hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup; neither can we allow such a disaster to occur ever again at any other event hosted within South African borders.
Therefore, the proposed Bill before us today - which seeks to implement minimum safety and security standards at sports and recreational events - is the way forward and the IFP welcomes the proposals in the Bill.
I am especially pleased that the planning, management and enforcement of safety and security at sports and recreational events held at stadia and other venues - including events in the form of a race, tour or a procession along a road, and political rallies - will, as from the implementation of this Bill, be managed by professional people with experience in the field of safety and security.
But let me signal a warning today that some sections of the Bill are ambitious, to say the least. The Bill, which seeks to promote the physical safety and security of individuals attending sports and recreational events and their property, will fail in its proposed mandate unless, Nyambose, we address the serious crisis in the private security sector, namely improper regulation, incompetence and corruption.
In line with our Constitution, it is the government's obligation to keep its citizens safe but, more importantly, the safety of visitors to our country, especially during the 2010 Soccer World Cup event, is non- negotiable. Whether we are able to protect our international and local sporting spectators will determine whether our country will remain a desirable destination for the hosting of such events in the future. The IFP supports the Bill. [Applause.]