Over thousand Ghanaian soccer fans pitch camp in Western Pretoria

(William D. Ezah, GNA Special Correspondent, Pretoria, South Africa) Accra, June 15, GNA - More than one thousand soccer fans from Ghana have pitched camp in Western Pretoria to provide support for the Black Stars at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The supporters came to South Africa in three batches, with an initial 540 arriving on Saturday, June 12, followed by 250 each arriving on Sunday, June 13 and Monday, June 14. They are housed in a hostel called Muzinda Residence located on the outskirts of Pretoria.

An interesting phenomenon is the fact that the supporters cut across age and sex and social class, and were drawn from different government agencies, departments, professional bodies, soccer affiliated bodies, and political orientation in the country, with members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) for obvious reasons in the majority.

Supporters groups such as the Nationwide Supporters Union (NSU), Die Hard Supporters Union, Millenium Supporters Union (MISUGHA) and National Women Supporters (NAWSU) have not been left out.

The supporters, who came to South Africa to cheer up the Black Stars, are under the sponsorship of the government of Ghana, a move by the state to ensure maximum support for the Black Stars during the World Cup.

In all, there are 512 rooms in the two block hostel, with Ghanaian supporters occupying 448 rooms. Each room accommodates a minimum of two people and a maximum of four ruling out the possibility of overcrowding. The supporters have been in a partying mood since arrival, dancing each night to continuous Ghanaian songs alongside barbeque.

In addition, each fan is provided with a respectable breakfast, lunch and supper each day, whilst buses and match tickets are made available to them on match days of the Black Stars.

The facility comes with decent lavatories on each hall with some rooms having their own bathrooms and toilet facilities and these are managed by the hostel wards each day.

It also has rest parks, where fans could converge to have fun in the absence of matches, with an open air auditorium with "borne" fire at vantage points to provide warmth whilst watching other group matches on a huge screen in the chilling weather of Pretoria.

The Muzinda residence is indeed an all-round facility, as it has a bar where fans could go and have a bottle of any drink whilst relaxing and attached.

Also available at the hostel, is an internet cafe for fans to have access to events on the globe, but comes with a fee of 10 Rands per hour.

It may have been the best facility for the fans, but one major problem confronting them is the nature of food served at the residence's canteen, because it is alien to the Ghanaian.

Most soccer fans GNA Sports spoke to have reservations about the nature of food served because they are not able to eat the South African dishes.

They were of the opinion that there was the need for Ghanaian caterers to be attached to the kitchen staff in a bid to add Ghanaian touch to the dishes.

Inquiries by the GNA Sports reveal that some modifications have been made to the kitchen staff as some Ghanaian caterers have since become part of the team that prepares food for the supporters.

Again, fans have to be in long queues to have their food, a situation that has affected the rather perfect arrangements by the government.

But for the series of flight problems encountered by the supporters causing a situation reminiscent of what "Haj" pilgrims go through each year at the El Wak Stadium, it could have been a perfect arrangement by the government.

However, the chilling weather too has become a major concern for most supporters as they cannot stand it.