Cogta minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma amends regulations to allow fans to watch Bafana against Ethiopia

It’s official. There will be a maximum of 2,000 football supporters when Bafana Bafana hosts Ethiopia during their 2022 Qatar Fifa World Cup qualifier at FNB Stadium on Tuesday.

This comes after co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma amended regulation 69 of the Disaster Management Act on Monday morning.

Bafana go into this match sitting on top of Group G with seven points, and they will be looking to complete a double over Ethiopia, who they convincingly beat 3-1 away from home at the weekend.

The amended regulations states that sporting events, including professional and non-professional matches, by recognised bodies are allowed subject to strict adherence to the times of operation as provided for in regulation 66 (3) and the following:

1. Directions for sports issued by the cabinet member responsible for sport after consultation with the cabinet member responsible for health.
2. Spectators at the venue of the sports events are permitted but limited to 750 persons or less for indoor and 2,000 persons or less for outdoor venues. If the venue is too small to hold the prescribed number of persons observing a distance of at least 1.5m from each other, then not more than 50% of the capacity of the venue may be used, subject to strict adherence to all health and protocols and social distancing measures.

This will be the first time since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in March last year that sporting fans in the country will be allowed inside the stadium to watch a live football match.