Sports Minister proposes solution to Soweto Derby chaos – ‘Nobody dies at rugby games’

Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie has offered his take over the ugly scenes witnessed at football stadiums with the latest one being last Sunday’s Soweto Derby.

The Soweto Derby kick off was delayed for up to 45 minutes as fans struggled to come in with some overpowering security and gaining access into the FNB Stadium without tickets while on the pitch, there was a scuffle before the game as players were going to warm up.

Those ugly scenes have been condemned with Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Khalil Ben Youssef among those who slammed the behaviour and McKenzie is fed up.

McKenzie urges football to learn from other sports

Chaos at the scanning station, as the fans force their way through the stadium. pic.twitter.com/4USC4NYBVE

— Sunday World News (@SundayWorldZA) April 26, 2026

“I go to rugby and cricket games, how come there are no these stampedes? Nobody dies at rugby games [but] people died at Ellis Park,” McKenzie said on Thursday.

“They need to number the seats. Why can people go to rugby and sit on their seats but in football, we don’t sit our seats? Are we people of ill-discipline?” he posed while suggesting what needs to be done.

The Minister intends to have a meeting with Stadium Management South Africa to find a lasting solution to the problem but has made it clear that one of the ways to tackle it is ensuring that every fan has a valid ticket and sits on their allocated seats.

Sports Minister provides solution to chaotic scenes

“I will meet the Stadium Management next week again. From now on and all the derbies after this weekend’s, we need you to have a ticket number, sit on yours seats,” he further stated.

Minister of Sports Gayton McKenzie says that going forward, he wants fans of Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs to sit according to their ticket numbers at the Soweto derby to avoid chaos.

“I go to rugby games and cricket matches, and nobody dies because of stampedes. You cannot… pic.twitter.com/HL4aqAqovP

— Sunday World News (@SundayWorldZA) April 30, 2026

“Nobody must cut corners, they must pay. More security for if I am a lady and there is a man sitting on my seat, I must not argue with you, I must just call security and say this man is sitting on my seat.”

There have been cases of ugly scenes at stadiums, especially before kickoff involving the big games, which leads to delays in kick off time with ticket verification taking long, seeing impatient fans force their way into stadiums, leading to scuffles at key entry points.