Burgess:

Hello and welcome to Special Assignment. I'm Anneliese Burgess. Ten years ago soccer administrators hung their heads in shame when 42 people were killed in an overcrowded soccer stadium in Orkney, a small mining town in the Northwest province. Then they vowed it would never happen again, but it seems as if no lessons were learned. Recently 43 soccer fans were killed, again in an overcrowded stadium. This time Ellis Park in Johannesburg, and again the match was between South Africa's two most popular clubs, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs. Public hearings into the disaster will only begin in July, and despite the lack of answers as to why the disaster occurred, soccer fans remain true to the sport. They have their own views as to what happened that fateful night at Ellis Park. Producers, [inaudible] and Jessica Pitchford spent some time with some of soccer's most devoted fans.

Mzion Mafikeng:

[foreign language 00:01:18] I need to take everything. [foreign language 00:01:28]

Speaker 1:

There can be no greater Orlando Pirates supporter than Mzion Mafikeng.M

Mzion Mafikeng:

We should leave now.

Speaker 1:

He's been an Mbaka Baka fan for nearly forty years.

Mzion Mafikeng:

I don't think we need this guitar today, man. You know, it's war today. We don't have to take a guitar. I need my [inaudible 00:02:12], I need my spear. I need [inaudible 00:02:15]. I need Sapula, the middle field marcher. He's here today. I must take [inaudible] because it's war today.

Speaker 1:

Before they leave, a prayer for the safety of the fans.

Mzion Mafikeng:

Let's put our hands together. I pray because the Almighty has got a power to do everything for me. All the people who are on their way to the stadium, the Almighty must [inaudible] on their shoulders so that everybody must arrive safe at the stadium, and being right here at the stadium, we must now watch our game peacefully. We must enjoy the game. The better team of the day must win the game and must accept. If my team loses, I mustn't cry. I must know God will give me one day.

Speaker 1:

Tonight Orlando Pirates will be taking on underdogs, Moroka Swallows in the quarter finals of the Bob Save Super Bowl Competition. At the FNB Stadium in Soweto, officials are cautiously preparing for tonight's game. It's going to be Orlando Pirates' first match since the disaster at Ellis Park. It isn't likely to be a sell out but no chances are being taken this time. 250 security guards aligned to the clubs are going through their paces. Andrew Dipela of the Premier Soccer League, which governs local soccer, looks anxious.

Andrew Dipela:

We are going to have radios, we are going to have loud hailers, which are going to be tell us and also, first the radios communicate amongst each other, because sometimes we might have to tell them that this side the tickets are finished, go the other side. You can only do it by word of mouth, but when we have a loud hailer then you can address a larger number of people.

Speaker 1:

Ellis Park Stadium, a few kilometres away, soccer fan Jabulani Jali pays homage to those who lost their lives. He's flown in from Durban to watch tonight's game, but he can't erase the last match from his mind.

Jabulani Jali:

When the first goal was scored, I did not even see. You know? I didn't even see who scored the goal, how it was scored. I was very much worried about the developments here. People were jumping on people, you know, were already lying down and I just couldn't take that. Before the game started, there was already trouble here. There were a number of people who were trapped already and when the game started, that is when actually a lot more people were actually trapped here.

Speaker 1:

Eleven minutes after start of play, stretcher bearers can already be seen near Gate 4.

Announcer:

Here it's [inaudible] outside the stadium, and we can tell you about 30,000 people trying to get in. The stadium is packed to capacity, and let's just hope we don't get incidents tonight.

Speaker 1:

Despite the fact that the first sign of trouble was noted long before, amazingly it took a full half hour before the game was halted. In an interview just before kick off, an official from the South African Football Association commented on the traffic chaos outside Ellis Park. He even warned of a stampede. He was asked how such a situation could be avoided in future.

Official:

It's a question of having loud hailers outside the stadiums to tell the people to take it easy because to avoid a stampede because thousands of people are still outside and the game is kickoff at 8:00, but it's very difficult for people to leave early at work to come inside because most of the people are not [inaudible] for five. So now coming from Grahamstown, coming from Welkom, coming from Potchefstroom is a little bit difficult for us.

Speaker 1:

Pirates and Chiefs draw huge support, even hawkers knew they had to bring in extra stock that night.

Hawker:

Pirate and Chiefs there is a crowd, so that you did know that, we go we buy lot of stock, we sell. Those will sell [inaudible] till we're sold out. Even us drinks, some drinks, sweets, and snacks, cold drinks, pap and steak, and everything. We were all sold out. There was no hawkers who returned back with their food or anything.

Speaker 1:

Yet the security on the night wasn't prepared at all. Fans who contacted Special Assignment said that after 8:00, they saw no guards at several entrances to the stadium. Some gates were open and unattended, so people simply streamed in. Once inside, they were trapped in a stadium ready to burst. The aisles were jam packed but the surge continued. Two early goals made those trying to get in even more frantic.

Announcer:

And now the shot flies in, Chiefs are ahead against the run of play. It's a great goal with his right boots. Johnson falls to kick it out of the net.

Speaker 1:

Fans even began trickling onto the pitch because there was no where else to sit.

Jabulani Jali:

Some people tried to push those who were coming in, to push them back. But those who were trying to go back so that they could clear the centre here were actually pushed back by the security guards because people had actually tried to occupy the VIP stands, trying to clear the way. But those security guards who were at the VIP stands, they were pushing them backwards.

Speaker 1:

After witnessing several people being crushed, Jabulani Jali tried to reach the security control room, which overlooks the ground.

Jabulani Jali:

I asked the security guards who were on the corridor, and then I said, "Do you have a radio?" They said, "No, we don't have a radio." And I said, "How do you communicate? Who is your superior here? Who is in command?" Nobody knew. Nobody knew. But once I was still running up and down outside, I could see that there were bodies who were actually pulled from inside being, I would say like, thrown outside by the people because they were just dumping them outside and then nobody was there. No resuscitation was taking place, there were no paramedics. There was nothing. I tried everything until I got there to that control room and when I told them to stop the game and they won't. They won't.

Speaker 8:

[inaudible] people are dying here.

Speaker 1:

Some fans were impaled on railings that collapsed and still the match continued.

Announcer:

Starting wide on the right tonight [crosstalk]

Speaker 1:

This video footage shows spectators applauding the game with people dying in front of them.

Announcer:

Paramedics working hard. Huge dramatic scenes on the side of the field. In an evening which is always set up for something dramatic to happen, with tickets being sold at the stadium, fans rushing late as they always do.

Speaker 1:

Until finally after 33 minutes, the match was stopped.

Announcer:

The referee's come across, there's some incidents. They're gonna have to stop the game by the looks of things. Robin Peterson there.

Robin Peterson:

Don't push the other people. Don't push. Don't panic. Just clear this way here.

Speaker 1:

By then, 43 people who had come to enjoy a game of football had died a terrible death. Emergency vehicles couldn't get in because of the parking chaos outside. Then the tunnels into the stadium were too low for some ambulances. Some of the critically injured were loaded onto golf carts. Officials involved won't talk about the incident. They believe the matter to be sub judice to see, because the Commission of Inquiry has been appointed.

Speaker 10:

It's been incredibly sickening to watch the soccer officials hide behind this judicial inquiry. There's a culture in this country of whenever there's a whiff of judicial interest in anything for people to hide behind the sub judice and other legal terms, which is absolute nonsense. I mean, I think the PSL could've come out by now and made a couple of steps to reassure the fans that they have the interest of the spectators at heart. So you know, there's been absolutely no action taken against anybody.

Speaker 1:

While we were interviewing Jabulani Jali at Ellis Park, we came across a guard who'd been on duty the night of the stampede. He said his colleague had been completely overwhelmed by the crowd who'd forced the gates open.

Jabulani Jali:

I mean, it was easy because people were standing here. They were blocking the way here.

Guard:

At that time, it was on the right here, we blocked the people up top, the other guys.

Jabulani Jali:

Right, you did what?

Guard:

We blocked the people.[inaudible 00:11:29] They need us to get out of the way.

Jabulani Jali:

This could've been easily prevented. Had they realised that there was something there was happening here, and if they had the know-how of how to control the crowds, it could've been easily easily prevented especially inside the stadium. We're paying our money and we would like them to actually take care of our lives.

Speaker 10:

Long as they can get your 50 rand and the guy can get you into the crowd and put that money into their coffers, they're happy. You're a commodity, you're not a person. That's the sad thing about soccer.

Speaker 1:

The only teams that still attract big crowds are Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. The clubs are led by two powerful men, Irvin Khoza and Kaizer Motaung.

Speaker 10:

If Kaizer Motaung and Irvin Khoza wanted to take South African football to a new level, between the two of them, everybody else would come along. I mean, Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates at the end of the day is the bread basket of SA football and everybody else kind of skirts on their tails. So if they, between the two of them took a decisive leadership and said, "Okay, look, we're gonna fix up the domestic game now, we're gonna ensure that this kind of thing never happens again, that the standards of stadia, the standards of organisation of games are taken to a new level, it'll be done overnight. I have no doubt about the strength and the power of those two, both personality wise but also in terms of the products which they control, which essentially is Chiefs and Pirates.

Speaker 1:

Attendance at other games has dropped drastically over the years.

Speaker 10:

Those who go to football regularly will tell you that the crowds of the 70s went down in the 80s, went down in the 90s, and now drastically down in the new century and the reason for that has got to be aligned with the fact that going to a football match is no longer as joyful an experience as it used to be.

Speaker 1:

It's 6:00 in the evening and Mzion Mafikeng and his friends are anxious they'll be late for tonight's game at the FNB Stadium.

Speaker 1:

Our filming has delayed them. It's a 60 kilometre drive from Sebokeng in the Vaal Triangle where he lives to Soweto. He had to pick up friends en route and there's something else he has to attend to. A week ago, Mzion got some tickets from his club and asked petrol stations to sell them. He did this, he says, to get the community used to the idea of buying tickets before the game. The problem at Ellis Park was that most people arrived without tickets. When they heard that it was a sell out, they weren't prepared to go home.

Speaker 1:

But Mzion's happiness soon fade. The owner of this petrol station denies he ever received soccer tickets to sell.

Mzion Mafikeng:

So I don't know. Really. I don't think that this is one of the things that I expected from our fellow brothers when I'm trying to help them. We are trying to save the situation by helping them last week, the week of the last, is what we're trying to sort out now so that the people should have their tickets before they get to the gate. They must get used to that. You know, as the supporters we are the hottest [inaudible 00:15:09]. We plan. We plan, we spend our money by coming to the stadium when we plan. And then we make arrangements with our families. At times you'll find that wives say, "No man, you can't go to this game. We don't have money." Say, "Please, man, let me go to the game. I love this team." [inaudible] You can see me, man. I'm with the guys there. When the coach is talking now. I can hear the coach is talking, what the coach is saying is right inside my head. [crosstalk]

Speaker 1:

Also right inside his head, the terrible events at Ellis Park on the night of April the 11th.

Mzion Mafikeng:

When I arrived there, I arrived there at 25 to 6. The stadium was almost nearly full. The game started. Everything was there, the atmosphere, the passion of the game was there. You can feel the atmosphere at the big teams in South Africa were playing. And then team scored a goal, I knew that would come back, and then within minutes, we equalised. When we were just about to score the second goal, the third goal, the fourth goal, and the fifth goal, there broke something. I can smell tear gas. When I smell tear gas I say, "Oh god, something is not right." What I can say really about my heart even now, still sore. I still have those pains and there's something actually goes with what I've seen there.

Mzion Mafikeng:

I think we needed to talk strongly with administrators, our soccer courses, to come out with something that can make us as supporters safe. Yeah, it's better. You can see even now. When you come in, you have parking, the lot of parking. There are people who are directing you where to park. The security guys who at Ellis Park, I don't like those guys. They are not good for our football. They're just there to come and bully you. So we don't want people who are coming to bully us because if you are there, you need to educate. The security guys must educate, not to bully people.

Mzion Mafikeng:

This is really war now! This is war! Now we're going to the [inaudible 00:17:33]. We are going there! Let's go!

Jabulani Jali:

If anything happens-

Speaker 1:

Jabulani Jali has also arrived at FNB Stadium. He's concerned. He doesn't see any two-way radios.

Jabulani Jali:

Okay, but do you think it's right for security guards to be, for instance, taken what happened at Ellis Park? To operate without two-way radios.

Speaker 12:

You don't have to compare Ellis Park incident with this.

Jabulani Jali:

Why? What's the difference? Because they did not two-way radios, you don't have two way radios.

Speaker 12:

You know what happened there.

Jabulani Jali:

I know what happened there.

Speaker 12:

What happened there? You can't do [inaudible]

Jabulani Jali:

Yeah but what took in the security guard's power, you know, [inaudible] stadium, right? And we are saying that in such situations, right, whereby you might have a problem, people might want to come in forcefully, right? How do you communicate with your seniors? [crosstalk]

Speaker 12:

We must have a radio, at least one, one. One operating let's say all [inaudible] must have a radio.

Jabulani Jali:

But you don't have it?

Speaker 13:

Oh, then that means that there is a guy with a radio down here. He's in charge of this.

Jabulani Jali:

You know, I was at Ellis Park when the whole thing happened and that is why I'm concerned, because I won't like to see the very same thing happening again.

Speaker 1:

Tickets are always on sale at the venue just before a match, a recipe for disaster says commentator, Mark Gleason.

Mark Gleason:

Except the norms nowadays are that selling of tickets doesn't take place at the gate, it takes place a little further on down so that once the game is full, you can in a sense build up two or three perimeters to stop people approaching the stadium.

Speaker 1:

Ellis Park management was in charge of ticket sales on the night of the stampede. 57,000 tickets were sold. The seating capacity is 60,000, but many thousands more gained access to the ground.

Speaker 10:

The corruption at the football comes from the people at the gates who, if you are in a situation where tickets are completely sold out, and you still want to get in the game, you slip the guy 10 or 20 rand and he lets you in through the gate and he pockets that money and takes it home with him. He doesn't give it to the club.

Speaker 1:

Some fans who had legitimate tickets for the Ellis Park match still have them, untouched by security.

Speaker 15:

My ticket is still like this, the [inaudible] to Ellis Park, not torn off or anything, not anything. How did I get in the stadium? The security was useless.

Speaker 1:

At tonight's game at FNB, touts are also selling tickets outside the grounds, in full view of the police who drive past. Fans say tickets are often of poor quality and are easy to copy.

Speaker 16:

This ticket is open to floor, look at the way it has been cut through.

Speaker 17:

And it's even in black and white.

Speaker 16:

And I can get the very same paper like this, make it before it started and get into the stadium.

Speaker 1:

Nothing's likely to go wrong tonight or at any other match in the near future, but fans want that reassurance from the right people and they want soccer administrators to acknowledge their mistakes now, not to hide behind a commission of inquiry.

Speaker 18:

What is also very necessary is for the commission to speed up the process, so that the results could speedily be brought back to the fans to relieve them of any fear in terms of saying, what was supposed to have been done is now seem to be done in all the games that we are attending, so that when friends come to the game they are not necessarily risking their lives by just coming in a relaxed mood to enjoy the game, not braving any situation.

Speaker 10:

Enough's enough now. There must be some accountability for this disaster. Somebody must be brought to book, some action must be taken, some strong action by the PSL and by SAFA and people are saying if it doesn't happen, then they are not going to go to football anymore. And I think it's slowly we're seeing it in a sense, we're seeing people voting with their feet. If South African soccer was on an upturn, there would certainly be the crowds, but they're not.

Speaker 1:

And that's just as well. Otherwise there could be many more than these 43 South Africans who will never again watch another soccer match.

Burgess:

On Saturday, Bafana Bafana played Zimbabwe in a World Cup qualifier. The match went smoothly although very poorly attended. IT's interesting to note that in the past, games of this importance were packed to capacity. Tickets were sold some distance from the stadium as many experts had recommended, but alcohol was sold outside the stadium despite a heavy police presence. With so few fans about, parking was not an issue as it was at Ellis Park. The real test for South African soccer administrators will of course be when Chiefs and Pirates meet again. As yet there's been no word on whether there will be a rematch of that tragic premiership game. That brings us to the end of tonight's programme. Next week we travel to the Lesotho border where we look at stock theft, rural South Africa's biggest crime. Thank you for watching. Remember you can phone, fax, or email us. All our numbers will be on screen at the end of the programme and remember you can also watch our e-broadcast every Monday evening, 20 past 11 SMBC3. I'll see you next week, same time, same place. Goodbye.