As another way of making poor rural communities in Limpopo province who cannot afford to pay for tickets to watch FIFA 2010 Word Cup matches, the Department of Roads and Transport has set aside more that R25 million to pay taxi operators to ferry soccer fans to the Public Viewing Areas (PVAs). In Limpopo, there is one PVA in each of the five districts and rural communities will have a chance of viewing matches during the tournament. “This will be a huge boost to taxi operators as I hope they will smile all the way to the bank. The department is to contract 1 250 taxis in total for five selected viewing areas,” said MEC Pinky Kekana. Kekana said to qualify for accreditation, operators had to follow some guidelines, such as to expect them to be taxi recapitalization- compliant and that their vehicles must be fewer than three years old. She said drivers were also expected to pass a visual inspection tests and their vehicles should be roadworthy. In the Vhembe District, poor rural communities are expected to converge in larger numbers to the now refurbished and upgraded Thohoyandou Stadium. The manager of Sports, Arts and Culture of the Thulamela local municipality, Mr Ronald Makhadi, said they were busy with some touch line jobs in the stadium and proudly stated that they were ready for the big event. Makhadi said taxi operators who would be accredited for transporting poor communities, would be expected to take care of the people they traveled with.