Sunday’s Soweto Derby at the FNB Stadium was a festival of football that nearly turned into a festival of death. For the third consecutive derby, the Premier Soccer League (PSL), Stadium Management SA, the teams, and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) presided over a logistical nightmare.
The 45-minute kick-off delay, the thousands of ticketless fans surging at the gates, overcapacitated stadium, fans squashed, the broken scanners, the brawl between security and team officials – it was a prologue to another Ellis Park disaster. We have learned nothing. And we are running out of time.
The echoes of April 11, 2001, were deafening on Sunday. The Ngoepe commission, established after 43 people were crushed to death inside an overwhelmed Ellis Park stadium, was explicit in warning against overcrowding, the use of fake tickets, and the failure of security to control the perimeters. Yet, there we were, watching the same horror movie.
For all its glitz as a World Cup final venue, FNB Stadium remains an island. The transport infrastructure is woeful. It took spectators hours to cover the “last mile” to the turnstiles because the JMPD failed to establish effective roadblocks or traffic flow. Minister Gayton McKenzie pointed out that it took him almost two hours to get in. The result was crowds massing at the gates – the exact environment that caused the Ellis Park stampede.
Stadium Management South Africa has, as usual, laid the blame at the fans’ door. They pointed to fake tickets and possible bribery at the gates.
Let us be clear: fans will always try to get in. It is the job of Stadium Management SA to stop them. If your scanners don’t work, if your security takes bribes, and if your emergency gates are forced open, that is not “fan behaviour”, that is your failure. To claim the objective was met while thousands forced their way past broken infrastructure is to spit on the graves of the 43 who died in 2001.
The team bosses should not be absolved. The home team receives thelion’s share of the gate takings. Instead of playing their part to prevent another Ellis Park stampede, a violent clash erupted between Pirates security and the Chiefs technical team, forcing players off the pitch. This is embarrassing.
But where was the PSL? Where was the oversight? The PSL has known for years that the digital ticketing system is flawed and that 94 000 seats are not enough for this fixture. By allowing the fixture to remain at a venue that routinely exceeds capacity by 10 000 to 20 000 people, the league is signing a blank cheque with human lives.
If you take a high-risk game to a sold-out venue, you must have all make sure all other “factors” are in place and work. On Sunday, the organisers downgraded the factors. The JMPD was absent, the gates were weak, the security was poor, and the leadership was silent.
We are begging the authorities: do not wait for the bodies to pile up again. Reopen the Ngoepe report. Scrap the failing ticketing system. If guards are taking bribes have them arrested. And perhaps most importantly – stop blaming the fans for a crisis you refuse to solve.
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- Sunday’s Soweto Derby at the FNB Stadium was a festival of football that nearly turned into a festival of death.
- For the third consecutive derby, the Premier Soccer League (PSL), Stadium Management SA, the teams, and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) presided over a logistical nightmare.
- The 45-minute kick-off delay, the thousands of ticketless fans surging at the gates, overcapacitated stadium, fans squashed, the broken scanners, the brawl between security and team officials – it was a prologue to another Ellis Park disaster.
- We have learned nothing.
- And we are running out of time.
