Stadium management hits back over festival violence

Following Minister of Police Bheki Cele’s media briefing on Wednesday about the security detail and police deployment at FNB Stadium for Sunday evening’s Global Citizen Festival, stadium management has hit back at the South African Police Service (Saps) and Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD).

Stadium management SA (SMSA) claimed there was a Saps debrief for this event which took place on December 4, 2018, without notice to SMSA, who are the stadium authority as defined in the Sasrea Act. As such, stadium management claim they were unable to participate in the debrief exercise.

In a statement issued by SMSA yesterday, they confirmed their attorney has been instructed to supplement its repeated requests addressed to the minister of sport to urgently arrange for the establishment of a judicial commission of inquiry.

In addition, SMSA would like the minister of sport to extend the scope of the commission to specifically enable it to investigate what it calls “the obvious liability of role-players in this event safety and security and planning committee [ESSPC] in cases such as these”.

Stadium management went on to add they would also demand detailed and honest reasons from the Saps and JMPD during enquiry proceedings for the deviation of approved ESSPC planning in the execution of the event.

In the days since the post-event violence first made headlines, stadium management has come under fire for a perceived silence on the matter.

In addition, there has been rife speculation about the level of professionalism of the organisers and the safety considerations they made for the event.

In response to the criticism, SMSA has insisted “we cannot allow for SMSA and our stakeholders to be exposed to the perception of non-compliance to our legislative obligations following acts of criminality that ensued after an extremely successful Global Citizen Festival”.

SMSA also went on to add that the chaos happened on the outskirts of the stadium precinct and that said area was under the control of law enforcement agencies.

“We intend taking pro-active, reasonable steps to ensure the safety of spectators within the stadium precinct. In the same breath, we will leave no stone unturned to ensure the law enforcement agencies compliance with their constitutional and legislative obligations,” added SMSA.

SMSA concluded by extending their condolences to patrons of the stadium who fell victim to the acts of criminality.