McKenzie warns derby a ‘disaster waiting to happen’

Continuing traffic and crowd control problems during the Soweto derby could mean the big match is an accident waiting to happen, according to sports minister Gayton McKenzie. For the second time in recent seasons, chaos reigned outside FNB Stadium when Kaizer Chiefs took on Orlando Pirates last weekend, and there were more people inside the venue than allowed capacity. In some instances, fans overpowered security to encroach into the media tribune and some of the VIP areas.

McKenzie, who was also stuck in the traffic gridlock last weekend despite travelling with a blue lights escort, said a lasting solution must be found to avoid another disaster. “It is an accident or massacre waiting to happen,” he said. “I left my house at 1pm and arrived at the stadium at 3pm, and we have blue lights.

I ask myself, what about a person who left their house at the same time and they don’t have blue lights? “It has become tiring because we are always stuck in traffic and that’s not the way to watch football. The stadium accommodates 94,000 people and once you have 94,200 people inside there, it is a recipe for disaster.

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“This is not a new thing we are seeing here; it has been there and we can’t continue saying something is going to happen. We must do something to prevent it from happening.” In a way of offering solutions, McKenzie said organisers of the event must use the railway system to alleviate traffic congestion. “We are going to speak to the minister of transport, Barbara Creecy, because we want to open the rail transport lines.

We want to speak to Stadium Management South Africa (SMSA) because we have to find a better way around this. “I have taken the lead to ask Prasa what is possible because with the rugby we open the railway lines, which was a brilliant intervention. We are going to speak to minister Creecy to open those train lines at FNB Stadium.

“We looked at the ticketing system; it’s a mess. You get to your seat and somebody is sitting in your seat and you can be stabbed because someone is drunk at that time. “We need more security because we have had the Orkney and Ellis Park disasters and it was Chiefs and Pirates games.

We are not a learning people; we have not seen enough because people have lost their lives. We are commemorating those lives.”

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