Michael Tlhakudi

Mangaung local municipality in the Free State is on track with their preparations for the greatest soccer showpiece, the Fifa 2010 Soccer World Cup.

This was announced by Gertrude Mothupi, the municipality's executive mayor, during her state of the city address at the Bloemfontein City Hall last week.

Mothupi said the Mangaung municipality was proud that it was going to host the games.

"We view the 2010 World Cup as an opportunity to accelerate development in Mangaung."

The area's Free State Stadium will be upgraded to host some of the 2010 World Cup matches.

"We are working tirelessly to make sure that the stadium will be in a perfect condition before the commencement of the World Cup," said Mothupi.

Seisa Ramabodu, Botshabelo and Mmabana stadiums will also be upgraded. The latter stadiums will be used for training by teams competing in the tournament.

The municipality comprises areas such as Bloemfontein, Botshabelo and Thaba Nchu.

"We are going to ensure that the infrastructure is developed and at the same time improve service delivery, and create jobs," she said.

"We need to start empowering our people to practise high levels of hospitality based on our rich cultural practice of ubuntu."

She said the municipality was engaged in programmes aimed at promoting tourism across the entire geographic area of Mangaung.

The Mangaung local municipality has established a task team which will deal with issues such as tourism and crime. The progress of the task team will be monitored regularly.

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