Ramatsiyi Moholoa

Ramatsiyi Moholoa

The Gauteng provincial government will recruit and train 1 200 volunteers for the Confederations Cup and World Cup.

This was announced by Barbara Creecy, Gauteng MEC for sports, arts, culture and recreation, at a media briefing at the legislature yesterday.

Creecy said the volunteers were being recruited from non host cities to ensure that people in those communities are also part of the two competitions.

The volunteers will serve in areas such as customer care, communication, protocol, marshalling, health and disaster management.

This is over and above the 5 000 volunteers recruited by the Local Organising Committee for the Confederations Cup and the 15 000 chosen for World Cup.

Creecy said they were working to ensure that Gauteng contributes immensely to a great Confederations Cup and World Cup in South Africa.

The Gauteng government has also roped in soccer icons like Lucas Radebe and Desiree Ellis to spearhead their development programmes.

The other legends who will train the youngsters as part of the 2010 World Cup legacy projects include Mark Fish and Phil Masinga.

Creecy said they were targeting around 1 000 people in each of the five mass participation clusters in the province.

The MEC said Gauteng has identified some of the countries to be lured into the province to set up base camps.

Gauteng is targeting countries in Africa and South America.