Despite the festive mood in the Mother City on Friday ahead of the kick off match to mark the start of the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup, local business in the area is seething. They claim that business has been slow since the official kick of concert which took place on Thursday. The loss in business is mainly due to the stampede that took place at the FanFest on Thursday when soccer fans forced their way into the already packed public viewing area. Police today maintained a strong presence, since the Fanfest was already filled to capacity by 12pm.
One owner told VOC News that when they were initially approached by the organisers of the event they were not told that their business would be negatively impacted. According to Dominic Masewu, the World Cup is killing his business. "The World Cup is killing my business, the World Cup is here and we are all excited about it, but now the police won't allow any one to come inside and that means that we are not able to trade as we normally do," said Masewu.
No business surge
"The police are saying that they are trying to control the crowd but at the end of the day they are trying to prevent the crowd from going into the Fanfest, but they can allow a few people in at time and allow them to watch the game at my restaurant," said Masewu. He said the documents which they had signed had indicated that there would be a surge in business. He said they were still waiting for an official from the City of Cape Town to get back the business in the area.
According to the manager of Pie City he had lost about R7000.00, which could easily have paid his rent at the end of the month. When the manager of the Chicken Licken was approached about the matter he said he wished not to comment, this despite his outlet being empty. The manager at the KFC in the area could not comment at the time, as she first had to get clearance from the owner.
One owner told VOC News that when they were initially approached by the organisers of the event they were not told that their business would be negatively impacted. According to Dominic Masewu the World Cup is killing his business. "The World Cup is killing my business, the World Cup is here and we are all excited about it, but now the police won't allow any one to come inside and that means that we are not able to trade as we normally do," said Masewu.
"The police are saying that they are trying to control the crowd but at the end of the day they are trying to prevent the crowd from going into the Fanfest, but they can allow a few people in at time and allow them to watch the game at my restaurant," said Masewu. He said the manual that they were given by the event organiser at the Fanfest did not indicate that their businesses would be negatively affected in anyway
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