Center Line Soccer South Africa 2010 news wrap
300 days to kickoff

It’s Friday, August 14, 2009, or to put it another way, 300 days until the June 11 kickoff of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Let’s have a look at the latest news from the host country, shall we?

- Local Organizing Committee (LOC) head Danny Jordaan takes the opportunity to issue an update on the preparations for the tournament. Jordaan reports that they have now received over 36,000 applications from over 130 countries for the 15,000 volunteer positions at the event. He has more good news to report on stadium and infrastructure construction:

Already those stadiums which were not used during the Confederations Cup are all over 80 percent complete. Construction on the precincts surrounding these stadiums is either in the most advanced of planning stages, or already under construction. We are confident that the host cities will hand them over on time.  

Jordaan was also interviewed last week by Reuters South Africa.

The city of Johannesburg’s web site takes a look at progress made in that city towards the tournament, while the Independent Online takes the 300-day mark as an opportunity to check in on progress in the host city of Durban, where “the opening of … Moses Mabhida Stadium could be moved ahead of schedule.”

SouthAfrica.info adds that property values have increased in the vicinities of the new stadiums.

- Screen Africa reports that the 2010 edition will receive the best in-stadium coverage of any World Cup, with 32 cameras trained on each game as well as a feed from a helicopter. Host Broadcast Services (HBS) will generate between 30 to 40 feeds of each match in a mixture of SD and HD formats, and the event will be broadcast in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. The story also reports that

Seven production teams from England, France and Germany will be commissioned to cover the World Cup. HBS will ensure a minimum of 110 commentary positions (rising to 160 for the final matches) at the various venues. A new innovation will see stand-up commentary positions around the soccer pitches for presenters. 

- iAfrica.com reports that the World Cup is arriving just in time to revitalize South Africa’s flagging economy. After seeing GDP growth of nearly four percent per year from 2004-06, the country’s economy has cooled thanks to the global economic crisis. A Nedbank economist forecasts GDP growth of 1.6 percent in 2010, however. BusinessDay takes an even more detailed look at the country’s economy.

- Johannesburg’s bus rapid transit (BRT) system, seen as a key infrastructure improvement for use during the tournament, makes its debut on August 30, reports the Independent Online.  The Sowetan and SouthAfrica.info have the story as well.

- Former Kaizer Chiefs and Leeds United captain Lucas Radebe has been named South Africa Tourism’s 2010 Ambassador to the World.

- The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) will be marketing dorms as budget lodging next year, says the Independent Online.  Students are not impressed, however, calling the facilities “putrid and unsafe.” (Odd — when I lived in a dorm, only the cafeteria was putrid and unsafe.)

- The Limpopo Informant reports that private homes will be part of the lodging district in that province, the northernmost in the nation.

- The Sowetan reports that the LOC is confident that increased security during the World Cup will provide a sufficient deterrent to crime. The public’s safety is once again at issue after “daring robbers have attacked nine malls around Gauteng in the past week, raising fears that criminals would disrupt the showpiece. Three people lost their lives in the attacks, while six others were wounded and 10 suspects arrested.” (Gauteng is the most populous province of South Africa and includes the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria/Tshwane.)

- Also on the crime beat, we note that the Times reports that steps are being taken to combat human trafficking next year. This is not a problem that is unique to South Africa — the article notes that an estimated 40,000 young women were smuggled into Germany during the 2006 World Cup for the commercial sex trade.

- Durban’s East Coast Radio reports that baggage theft is down at  the nation’s airports, thanks to a new law. The baggage theft rate has come down to a reported .06%, below the “world benchmark” rate of “0.1% of all bags screened and handled.”

Jay Hipps is Center Line Soccer’s managing editor. Follow him on Twitter at jayhipps.