In 29 days' time, the world will awaken to South Africa's unique spirit when the curtain is raised for the Fifa Confederations Cup.
The opening ceremony on June 14 at Joburg's Ellis Park Stadium - to be beamed to millions across the globe - will be choreographed by Grammy Award winner Lebo M, the composer famous for arranging and performing music for the Lion King movies and stage productions, and co-producer of the Lion King production in South Africa. Continues Below ↓
'We are going to deliver the most sophisticated and unique ceremonies'
He is a member of a consortium that has been entrusted with putting together all the razzmatazz during the opening and closing ceremonies for the eight-nation tournament.
Details of artists and performers were not revealed on Thursday, but the organisers promised an event that would dazzle local and international fans. "We are going to deliver the most sophisticated and unique ceremonies, with a strong representation of who were are as South Africans," said Lebo M, whose real name is Lebohang Morake.
The company, VWV Consortium, is a joint venture between the VWV group, Till Dawn Entertainment, and associate producers Jack Morton Worldwide. Jack Morton were the production consultants for the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games ceremonies, and also produced those in Athens in 2004.
This was announced yesterday as the 2010 local organising committee (LOC) unveiled its final preparations for the Confederations Cup - a test event for the 2010 World Cup.
From stadiums to transport, safety and security, and the 400 volunteers, whose duties range from welcoming visitors to translation, the LOC was confident there would be no glitches.
With upgrades at all Confederations Cup host stadiums now completed, LOC competitions manager Derek Blanckensee had to deal with anxieties about the quality of the pitches at Ellis Park, Loftus Versfeld and Free State stadiums - which may not have enough time to recover from the British and Irish Lions tour matches. "We will have an enormous transition in a short time to transform the pitches from rugby to football matches," said Blanckensee.
The transport and logistics manager for 2010, Skhumbuzo Macozoma, also gave detailed plans of how Fifa officials and delegates, teams and fans would be moved between airports, hotels, residential areas and match venues on match days. This, he said, would include special Shosholoza Meyl (long distance) trains, buses and shuttle services to execute park-and-ride and park-and-walk services.
The chief security officer for 2010, Linda Mti, and Deputy Police Commissioner Andre Pruis reaffirmed the government's guarantees that fans would be safe during the event. Mti said the safety measures that were being used during the ongoing Indian Premier League cricket tournament would be implemented during the Confederations Cup.
Danny Jordaan, the CEO of the LOC, highlighted the slow sales for tickets for the Confederations Cup as among the problems they continued to encounter.
However, he remained optimistic that tickets would be sold out in time for the kickoff.
This article was originally published on page 6 of The Star on May 15, 2009
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