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As we draw close to the memorable and historic first Soccer World Cup on the African continent and the quarterfinals of this cup, we are very proud and hold our heads high as the ANC and the ruling party. We are convinced that we have done extremely well as a country on behalf of our continent in hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup and all the activities that we have undertaken.

We have seen all South Africans, black and white, rich and poor standing together, united in embracing the soccer world cup but also our national team, Bafana Bafana. Our country continues to be engulfed in football excitement and anticipation. The football fever is everywhere as evident in the wearing of the football jerseys, scarves and other paraphernalia.

The display of national pride is evident through the flying of the national flag which is visible in the streets, in the shops, cars, churches of various denominations and is even being hoisted in corporate offices throughout the country. Never in the history of our country has our flag received such prominence. Never in the history of our country have our people been so united and so embracing of an activity, except when Comrade Nelson Mandela went out of prison and when we won our freedom in 1994.

As the ANC we are impressed by the manner in which the national anthem is sung. Our national football team, Bafana Bafana, spectators and South Africans from different walks of life sang the national anthem in unison, with the necessary ardour, zest and a sense of belonging. Others even shed tears as our national anthem was sung. This soccer world cup has indeed been a catalyst for bringing all South Africans together, as one nation.

We would like to thank all South Africans for showing support to Bafana Bafana by going to the stadiums in large numbers and wearing Bafana Bafana jerseys. South Africa started rallying behind Bafana Bafana through the hosting of the football Fridays, showing support for our national team.

As the ANC we also held the Bafana Bafana street bash in support of our national team. We also sent a message of encouragement to our team apart from adorning our Headquarters with super large Bafana Bafana jerseys.

Even though our national team bowed out of the world cup tournament at an early stage, our boys played their hearts out and made us proud. They represented the country with dignity and gave their best. We should continue to lift up our chin and walk tall for being part of this football history and of having created a great and lasting 2010 legacy. Let us not lose sight of the fact that we have already emerged triumphant by successfully hosting the world's most prestigious football tournament.

As hosts of the 2010 FIFA World cup, we have been able to do what comes naturally to South Africans, demonstrating to the world that we are, indeed, wonderful hosts and will continue being the best hosts during the soccer world cup and beyond. We have shown our good as a country and as a people that together - regardless of our race, gender and creed - we have achieved this noble course of being wonderful hosts to our visitors. We sang, laughed, ululated, and we blowed our vuvuzelas together in our fan parks and public viewing areas. We also mixed with our visitors without any incidence as we used our public transport to and from football matches.

The ANC is heartened and humbled by the extra mile that South Africans have travelled to make our guests and visitors feel at home in our country. Through the help of South Africans our visitors did not only watch the matches but also saw the beauty of South Africa as a country in the various provinces they went to. It is these actions of South Africans and this humility to our visitors and guests that will make them come back as tourists to our country.

The ANC is very confident that by hosting this tournament, we have sold the South African brand to the international community and we can expect more visitors and tourists to our country in the near future.

We would like to wish all the teams that have gone to the last stage of the tournament well. We note that South America as a continent has four teams in the last eight and Europe has three teams remaining in the last eight. Africa, our continent is only represented by one team, the "Black Stars of Ghana. For the purpose of this tournament, we agree with the emerging sentiment that this team must be called the "Black Stars of Africa".

We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to the "Black Stars of Africa", the Ghana National Soccer Team for salvaging the image of the continent in this tournament. We are very confident that having gone this far, the team is in deed heading for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals. We are very proud of them, as South Africa and as part of the continent of Africa, they are our pride. We call upon all South Africans and all Africans to rally behind them. Lets cheer them through to the quarterfinals, the semi-finals and the finals.

This 2010 FIFA World Cup will leave an everlasting legacy for all South Africans in the form of infrastructural development. As a country, we have been able to rollout four new world-class stadia and revamped six others to an international level, including the Soccer City Stadium. These developments will remain the pride and the legacy that this world cup will leave for the people of South Africa.

Not only will the country reap dividends in terms of stadia built, we are also very proud of the new airport, the King Shaka International Airport in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal and the upgrading of all our international airports including the OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg to international standards.

Some infrastructural legacies that will also be left for all of us when the world cup is gone are the transport and road infrastructure. In this category, we have amongst others Gautrain, Rea Vaya in Gauteng as well as the BRT's in the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape.

With Government driving South Africa's multibillion-rand development world cup projects, what is certain is that, the move will also go a long way to remedy the slanted implementation of infrastructure during apartheid, making the country ready to meet the many demands of a growing economy.

The outstanding cooperation between the police and our courts has made it possible for World Cup criminal cases to be finalized promptly. This improved way of working has shown that if there is collaboration by different departments, a lot can be achieved.

The role of the public broadcaster, SABC, must be commended. The SABC, the official broadcaster of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, unveiled its comprehensive broadcast plans and activities around the soccer spectacular. They planed to broadcast all the 64 World Cup matches live across three television channels, 18 radio stations and in all 11 official languages. To this extent they have achieved exactly that. They indeed brought the soccer world cup to the world.

All of these breakthroughs could not have been possible if we did not have a patriotic and committed media in general. Both the electronic and print media have made this world cup their world cup. They have pulled all the stops to make it possible that this world cup is able to even reach to the poor.

As we prepare ourselves for the AFCON tournament in our continent and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, it is our view as the ANC that we should integrate lessons learnt now. SAFA and the Minister have committed themselves to the development of football at the provincial, regional and local level. The school football competition, mayoral cups, premiers cups should be part of these developments in our football offerings.

Thoughts that are being prepared for the development of male football should be migrated to the development of women football. Women football should also not be found wanting when it comes to sponsorship with all sponsorship going to male sport.

FIFA promised to roll out about 20 Football for Hope centres across Africa after this year's World Cup. This project is one of the major legacy initiatives FIFA wants to leave after staging the first ever World Cup tournament on our continent.

The centres will feature a mini-pitch otherwise known as a football turf, along with classrooms and health care facilities, providing the youth with access to counseling, health and educational services.The intended date for the completion of the centers is 2012. Three of the centres will start in Nairobi and Kenya in the next three weeks. Five of the centres will be built in South Africa and one is already operational in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. It is used as a vehicle to promote education, health and community development in this fastest growing township.

Our many thanks also goes to FIFA, through the leadership of President Sepp Blatter, for working well with our government in bringing this World Cup to South Africa and by considering the potential that Africa has in hosting such a prestigious event. The people of South Africa and Africa appreciate such a privilege and honour. Thank you for believing in us!

The ANC will approach government that this world cup and every thing that has been done in this tournament must be documented so that generations to come should know what happened in the first ir country in 2010. This can happen through the publishing of a book, film or through theatre. Our kids and their kids and many generations to come should know that South Africa and the African continent was once a host to this historic tournament for first time in the African soil.