BRYANSTON – As a nation, 73% of South Africans are confident that we will be ready to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, market research company African Response.
Regionally more noticeable shifts in confidence were expressed. Johannesburg and Durban saw a substantial decline in confidence, showing a drop from 87% to 82% and 83% to 74% respectively. Pretoria was the only region displaying higher confidence in our readiness, increasing from 69% to 75%.
These findings reflect the views of 1200 respondents representative of the South African population. Fieldwork for this reporting month was conducted between October and December 2007. The African Response 2010 Barometer has been measured since March 2006 in order to provide insight in to the awareness and opinions of South Africans on the subject of South Africa’s preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Notable decreases in public confidence across most areas of South Africa’s preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup were detected in this most recent measurement.
Confidence in South Africa’s preparations:
With the increase in load shedding over the last few months, it is not surprising that optimism in South Africa’s electricity supply being able to meet the demands of the 2010 FIFA World Cup has seen a 5% drop this measurement to 52%.
Concerns around power supply were pin-pointed in Durban, with their optimism declining from 57% to 43% this measurement. Public confidence remained relatively stable in the Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria regions. Given that research was conducted before the recently intensified load shedding, the next measurement is expected to reflect a pronounced decline in optimism.
Policing and security capabilities during 2010 arose as one of the prominent areas of concern this measurement, decreasing from 62% in the last measurement to 55% in this measurement. Capetonians were most concerned about the readiness of our policing and security dropping from 54% to 41%, followed by Johannesburg (72% to 66%) and Pretoria (59% to 53%).
South Africans are slightly less assured in our public transport system being ready to cope with the demands of 2010. Across South Africa, the decrease was most apparent in Cape Town, which dropped by 16% to 40%. Public confidence expressed in the Pretoria, Johannesburg and Durban regions on the other hand, remained relatively stable.
Another area of concern was South African roads having the ability to cope with the influx of visitors. This area saw a decline of 6% since the last measurement. Increased rain and limited maintenance of potholes could have influenced opinions as less than two thirds (64%) of South Africans believe our roads will be ready.
Johannesburg respondents appeared to be most assured (82% to 91%) that South African airports will be ready to cope with the demands of visitors expected. Capetonians were clearly more sceptical declining by 5% to 67% this measurement.
Confidence in Bafana Bafana’s preparation:
Less than half (48%) of South African believe that Bafana Bafana will be ready for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This is an 8% drop from the last measurement and the lowest score obtained since the first measurement in 2007.
Johannesburg respondents have the most faith in Bafana Bafana, however this confidence took a drop of 9% to 58% between this measurement and the last. Capetonians expressed the lowest amount of confidence in their national team, declining from 46% to 33%. Following the trend were Durban respondents, declining from 56% to 51%. This could be related to the teams ranking having dropped over the last few months.
How important is the 2010 FIFA World Cup:
To South Africa as a nation?
Capetonians showed the highest increase in agreement that the 2010 FIFA World Cup will be beneficial to South Africa compared to previous measures (75% to 85%) while Johannesburg remained virtually unchanged (91% to 92%) with confidence still exceptionally high.
To South Africans as individuals?
On a more personal level, 82% of South Africans feel that the 2010 FIFA World Cup is important to them personally compared to 79% in the last measure. This was most pronounced amongst women (74% to 79%), establishing them as an increasingly important audience. South Africans aged between 25 years and 34 years consider the event to be most important to them personally (86%).
How will South Africans be watching the 2010 FIFA World Cup?
Eight-eight percent (88%) of South Africans have said that they will be watching the 2010 FIFA World Cup matches on television and 57% of South Africans plan to watch the 2010 FIFA World Cup live. This could be due to the cost of ticket prices being too high for some to attend the matches.
More than two thirds of South Africans agree that South Africa’s new soccer stadiums will be ready in time. This is a 6% drop from the last reporting period. Respondents in Johannesburg were less assured that stadium construction would be completed on time (85% to 79%) as were Durban (81% to 71%) and Cape Town (67% to 57%). Pretoria was the only region displaying an increase in public confidence (66% to 72%).
In this month’s topical question referring to strike action in November 2007, respondents were asked whether they felt that recent strike action by stadium construction workers will threaten South Africa’s readiness to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Almost two thirds (63%) of respondents agreed that the recent strikes would threaten the readiness of South Africa’s soccer stadiums.
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