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Huge challenge after successful Soccer World Cup hosting

• Johann Dannhauser

The hosting by Bloemfontein of its part of the 2010 Soccer World Cup tournament has gone off well and resulted in a lot of eulogies for the city, but now the daunting challenge is to maintain this momentum and build it into a viable and sustainable legacy. In this respect, the responsibility comes down primarily on the shoulders of the local government concerned, the Mangaung Local Municipality.

The main positives of the World Cup hosting in Bloemfontein could be summarized as follows:

• The Free State Stadium was upgraded and prepared in full compliance of the high FIFA standards. In the process, the seating capacity was extended from 38 000 to 46 000, costing R241 million, of which R221 million was provided by national government and R20 million from the city's coffers.
• The upgrading of a lot of city infrastructure was fast tracked in order to be completed in time for the hosting. This included inter alia the widening of the Nelson Mandela Drive entrance from the west and widening of Parfitt Avenue, Park Road and Donald Murray Avenue, amongst others; the make-over of Elizabeth Street, Selborne Avenue and other thoroughfares; building of the new pedestrian bridge over Markgraaff Street; the beautifying and landscaping of many streets and sidewalks in the city; the extensive upgrading of Bloemfontein Airport and its road linkage; etc. This upgrading no doubt amongst others improved traffic flow in the busiest area of the city tremendously, uplifted the general appearance of the city meaningfully and put the airport service of the city on another level.
• The presentation of the six World Cup games played in Bloemfontein went off smoothly and without any major hitch, thanks also to FIFA's meticulous preparations as well as substantial assistance from various national governmental sectors. In and around the stadium the vibe was indeed tremendous, something like the city has not really experienced before.
• Bloemfontein Airport also brought its side, adeptly handling up to 226 landings and departures on a single day - a local record by far.
• Businesses across the board, not only in Bloemfontein, but also in other parts of the Free State, cashed in on the stream of visitors and foreign tourists. The Loch Logan Waterfront for instance reportedly exceeded its previous best daily turnover with some 70%.
• Incidence of crime by all accounts were insignificant, mainly due to extra strong Police and specialized security presence and surveillance. Bloemfontein, as the rest of the country, is receiving favorable publicity – generally in the foreign media and on social media, like Twitter, etc.

This is all very well, but the question now is what does it mean for the future of every resident within e.g. the Mangaung municipal area (Bloemfontein / Mangaung / Botshabelo and Thaba Nchu)?

This is exactly where the daunting challenge comes in, the addressing of which unavoidably has to be shouldered and led largely by the Mangaung Municipality. In this regard, the following comes to the fore as salient points to be noted:

• The push to upgrade the city's infrastructure, essential for further growth and investments, has to be maintained. This applies to the backlog in service delivery, like repairing of abundant water and sewerage leakages, street potholes, electricity-related failures, etc. Encouraging in this respect is the major widespread clean-up and greening campaign to be launched by executive mayor Playfair Morule on 5 July 2010, while it is noted that construction of the Intermodel Transport Facility in the CBD at a cost of R450 million is continuing apace.
• Will the Free State Stadium be maintained and put to use in a manner justifying the R241 million spent on its upgrading?
• Huge challenges remain within the municipal boundaries as regards RDP housing, squatting, service delivery demands across the wide spectrum and orderly urban roll-out.
• The municipality has just tabled its budget for 2010-11 together with its IDP planning for 2010-13 and getting the ends of these together, poses a huge challenge in itself. While municipal tariffs have been raised considerably, on top of a big hike already last year, the expressed budgetary intention is to cut capital spending, while containing operational costs. This is with a view to stabilize the precarious financial status of the municipality.
• The process has been launched to turn the Mangaung Local Municipality into a metropolitan area within the next 12 months. This in itself raises an unprecedented challenge.
• A last challenge to be mentioned here within the confinement of space allowed, is the one of city leadership. Will the ruling party within the Municipal Council on the one hand, at last succeed in plugging corruption, incompetence and nepotism, while, on the other hand, rising above narrow political expediencies and instead govern in the general interest of the tax-paying community at large?

The measure to which the success of the World Cup hosting is to be followed up, is not only of cardinal importance to the Mangaung Municipal Area, but also to the rest of the Free State and its well-being. If Mangaung succeeds, it could set a positive example for choking municipalities of other main centres in the province, e.g. Matjhabeng at Welkom, Moqhaka at Kroonstad, Dihlabeng at Bethlehem, Nala at Parys, etc.

Thus according to the circumstantial facts, the onus on the Mangaung Local Municipality is indeed a heavily challenging one.