Residents reject stadium.

Plans to build a new stadium at Green Point, just northwest of the city centre, for the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa have met with strong opposition from local residents, who are threatening legal action should construction go ahead. The Green Point community is particularly unhappy about one of the two sites identified for the new 68,000-seat stadium, which would lead to the destruction of the 9-hole Metropolitan golf course established in 1895. There are also fears about the environmental impact of related developments including a new urban park and electricity infrastructure.

The newly elected city government led by Helen Zille of the Democratic Alliance party has also expressed concern about the 1.5 billion Rand project and in particular about how it is going to be financed. It is also insisting on the need to identify alternative sites in the event that construction at Green Point is held up by the courts or turns out to be financially unviable.

Cape Town has been earmarked by World Cup organiser FIFA as a venue for one of the semi final matches. The Green Point site was chosen by FIFA together with the national and provincial governments and the former African National Congress-led Cape Town city administration.