20100413
SABC

The Mpumalanga Health Department says it has spent over R424 million on projects related to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The department says a helicopter, ambulances and forensic vehicles have been acquired. These will be dispatched to the Mbombela Stadium, the local fan park and other public viewing areas in the province.

"We are ready - we have already employed professionals in terms of the doctors, nurses and emergency staff. We have already made a plan - we know specifically how many people will be deployed per area, per game. We have made sure that we have the necessary skills where we were running short of the skills. We have made sure that we skill our officials in terms of the requirements," says health MEC Dikaledi Mahlangu.

Nearly 20 000 rooms have already been sprayed as part of communicable disease control in Mbombela, Nkomazi and Bushbuckridge municipalities. About 86 000 people will be vaccinated for H1N1 and plans are also afoot to curb drugs and human trafficking.

South Africans urged to buy tickets

Meanwhile, with just weeks to the World Cup in South Africa, the world football governing body FIFA and the Local Organising Committee have appealed to South Africans to buy the remaining 500 000 tickets that have been made available.

Jerome Valcke of FIFA told CNN: "This final ticket phase is very important. We will not want to give that picture of empty seats to the world; all will need to be done in these last days. I am very happy with the progress that has been made in the last four ticketing phases. What is important now is to sell the remaining tickets."

The head of the World Cup local organising committee Danny Jordaan said: "We have done everything we were asked to do. We have created a reduced price category of tickets exclusively for South Africa. We have now implemented over-the-counter sales to make sure the tickets are accessible. The final thing is that South Africans must respond. If you are a good host, you must be there. We do not want the World Cup experience to end at the stadiums or the match venues, we want to go beyond that. People who visit our country must be able to enjoy many aspects of our culture and visit many iconic sites."