Dark cloud still hovers over derby

As the Soweto derby takes place tomorrow, we are hopeful that our football authorities have taken precautionary measures to ensure the safety of the thousands of fans who will be at Soccer City.

The last time Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates met at the venue, two people died and scores woke up in hospital with serious injuries.

As we reported this week, nothing has since been done about that July 29 stampede, with Sports Minister Thulas Nxesi’s office telling us hearings into the matter will only start in January.

We find this insulting to the families searching for answers to the tragedy that robbed them of loved ones who simply wanted to watch their favourite teams play.

The matter should really have been expedited, not least after the Premier Soccer League had – three days after the tragedy – promised it would release a preliminary report “within 14 days”. Alas, two months later, the league announced it had “discontinued” its investigation so that the ministerial inquiry could take precedence. This is dicing with people’s emotions, when they deserve better after losing loved ones.

We urge Nxesi’s team to get cracking and find closure for the bereaved families, for whom the derby – just like the Ellis Park disaster of 2001 – will forever serve as a sore point.

Tomorrow, thousands will again descend on FNB Stadium for the first official match between the sides this season. Organisers have told us they have planned better this time, with ticket checkpoints put far away from the stadium to ensure nobody pushes through with fake tickets, as allegedly happened the last time.

We will be watching keenly to see if there’s any difference in security arrangements tomorrow. Only this week the PSL was forced to delay kickoff of Mamelodi Sundowns’s match against Chiefs by 20 minutes in Tshwane, as thousands of fans were stuck outside the stadium.

We commend the PSL for taking precautions but again, when will the league realise a match of this magnitude should not be played on a Tuesday evening?

Lastly, we urge Amakhosi and the Buccaneers to live up to the hype and give fans what they really want: a memorable derby with goals aplenty.