World Soccer Bid 2010 Victory Bid: May 15, 2004
Finally, our hour has come. The passion and dedication of the South African soccer fans cannot be denied anymore! The dawn of the African century has delivered us our first Soccer World Cup in Africa – and the victory is so very sweet. As sweet as the fruits of our liberation. The bid team’s technical committee agreed earlier this week that South African was an excellent host country and the vote went our way today.
Halala South African!
I know that by 2010 this country will have improved even more on that excellent rating that the technical team gave us, and South Africans will give the soccer fans of the world the best tournament in the history of the World Cup. We are Ubuntu people and we want the world to come here and experience our African magic.
The first person we must pay tribute to in our thanks is Mr Danny Jordaan. After the disappointment of the previous bid, he didn’t give up. It simply inspired him to work harder and more creatively for the 2010 bid. Together with him, we also thank the Iron Duke, Mr Irvin Khoza who also worked his tirelessly.
The excitement of top quality football right on our doorsteps is very exciting, but for South African the 2010 World Cup will be a great economic boost and an impetus to turn the tide against centuries of poverty and misery due to apartheid and colonial oppression.
The 2010 World Cup comes to all the people of a united South African. And we are grateful to President Thabo Mbeki for his political leadership and guidance especially as the architect of the African Renaissance. By encouraging all Africans across the continent to walk tall and be proud of our heritage, President Mbeki has initiated new waves of development and growth across the continent.
The impressive bid-team with three Nobel laureates must have also helped our cause because we know that the Madiba magic is known to do miracles.
The People’s President, Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki has personally gone an extra mile ensuring that Africa finally plays its role in reshaping the global outlook on her economically, socially and so on. We thank you Mr President and the entire cabinet. You are indeed, a visionary. You always think ahead of us all. We are proudly joining you in raising the African flag.
I concur with Baba Madiba, former President Mandela as he often says, “no President or Prime Minister in the history of this country can claim to have done more for the people and the country than has been achieved by President Thabo Mbeki”.
In this spirit we look forward to the games we are going to host here at Kings Park. Kings Park has been nominated as a semi-final venue. Of course, I believe that eThekwini should host the final. We have the biggest soccer fan-base in the country, the best accommodation facilities, wonderful leisure and recreation facilities; security that has been tried and tested with international heads of state like the NAM conference and the Racism Conference; and then, of course, a great stadium.
For 2010, new roofed tiers will be constructed at the north and south ends of the ground behind the goals to create a fully encircled oval with a capacity of 60 000 seats.
So you can be sure, eThekwini will be ready, and we will host as many of the games as we can.
Durban is no stranger to hosting international sporting events and because we have a well-run local government with excellent relationships with the private sector, we are ideally placed to play a major role in South Africa’s 2010 World Cup programme.
At the beginning of the second decade of liberation we must keep our focus on our two core objectives create work and roll back poverty. The 2010 Soccer World Cup will certainly contribute to these goals.
Now it is time to get our own National team fit and focused so that they can put up a good show because they will be the only ones with home ground advantage. I appeal to all the football supporters to put everything into the beautiful game. We must get our players full of confidence so that the overseas fans can see that South African players are in a class of their own.
Sishaya i-vuvuzela! Laduma