October 16, 2006
By Lucky Sindane
VISITING the much-talked about FNB Stadium, popularly known as Soccer City, the key venue for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup, has always been Palesa Dlamini's dream.
And the 12-year-old from Paul Mosaka Primary School could not believe it when she set foot in the empty Soccer City; she jumped up for joy, hugged her friends and was close to shedding a tear.
"I just can't believe that this is me, here at FNB stadium," she said. "I always see it on television when Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs are playing and I always wanted to come with my dad to one of the matches."
TJ1: the black Rolls Royce used by Joburg's first mayor, Johan Zulch de Villiers, in the 1890s is on display at the James Hall Museum of Transport
Palesa was among the hundreds of school children from Soweto's Paul Mosaka school and Boepakitso Primary School who visited the FNB Stadium, the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in Newtown and the James Hall Museum of Transport in Turffontein on Friday, 13 October as one of the City's Public Transport Month events.
"The kids were very excited when they got to FNB Stadium," said the mayoral committee member for transport, Rehana Moosajee. "Their facial expressions said it all when they saw the empty stadium. We want to show them the infrastructure that we have and are going to upgrade for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
"Today's activity is in line with our theme for this week, which is about infrastructure and 2010 plans."
The children were divided into two groups, with those from Paul Mosaka school visiting the James Hall Museum of Transport and those from Boepakitso school visiting the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre.
The transport museum
Established by Jimmie Hall and the City of Johannesburg in 1964, the James Hall Museum of Transport is the largest and most comprehensive museum of land transport in South Africa. It houses steam locomotives dating back to the South African War, municipal vehicles, agricultural equipment, municipal animal vehicles, trams, buses, bicycles, motorcycles, rickshaws and trolley buses.
It also houses the black Rolls Royce with the TJ1 plates that was used by Joburg's first mayor, Johan Zulch de Villiers, in the 1890s. The children were excited about their visit to the museum, and some of them took notes on the history of the different kinds of transport.
"This is an experience which I will never forget. I'm going to tell my friends about today's experience," said 11-year-old Terrence Mazibuko.
During their visit, more learners from other Soweto schools arrived in loud minibus taxis. They were transported by members of the Top Six Taxi Association as part of their support of Public Transport Month.
"We asked our fellow operators to adopt school children in the areas where we operate. This initiative was started last year by our former spokesperson for the Top Six Taxi Association, Molefe Rapodile, and we would like to continue with this initiative," said Jabu Nkosi, the association's provincial spokesperson.
"We want our African can kids to learn about public transport and to grow up doing the right things," he added. "We've always supported Public Transport Month and we'll continue supporting it."
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