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On the 11th of June 2010 began our nation's date with destiny. Following a spectacular opening ceremony, the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup kicked-off with an incredible game between South Africa and Mexico which showcased what was in store for the multitudes of keen soccer lovers that were to attend this tournament.

For years since South Africa had won the right to host the biggest sporting showpiece on earth, the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament on 15 May 2004, our people had waited with remarkable anticipation for this event and prepared for it with meticulous precision. For many, it was as though this moment would never arrive; for the sceptics and the Afro-pessimists, they wished that this moment would indeed never arrive, and if it did, it would be struck with dreadful calamity and result in disaster.

For a long while, we all forgot about 2010 the year, and only thought of 2010 as the FIFA World Cup tournament. It became normal to hear people talking about "2010" referring to the tournament, such that even long after the Year 2010 had begun, you still heard people saying, "The 2010 is starting on the 11th of June".

And, who would blame them! South Africa was awarded the honour to host this spectacular tournament only sixteen years into its new (democratic) dispensation, when there are even much older democracies that have not yet had the same honour. Even more so, this is the very first time that the tournament was held in Africa, and so South Africa had the added privilege and responsibility to host the event on behalf of the African continent as a whole.

Of course, this was a worthy reward for an extraordinary struggle waged against the most vicious system of racial supremacy and tyranny; for the humaneness of that struggle and the supremacy of that course.

From the moment the 2010 tournament was awarded to South Africa, there was an astonishing and all-round excitement that swept across the country as many South Africans anticipated that this was both going to be a successful event and it would bring many blessings to our country and people. Everybody knew that this was the most prestigious tournament of all global sports events, and that hosting it was indeed an honour and a privilege.

The all-round celebrations that broke out in our country succeeding our awarding of the tournament showed how decisively we had departed from the past of fractious racial divisions incapable of espousing a common national objective. However, the weeks and days bringing us closer to the tournament itself eclipsed all previous celebrations and we stood as one nation, one people, with the single objective to host the most successful FIFA World Cup tournament in history.

The commencement of the tournament surpassed all imagination and confounded the sceptics and pessimists alike; yet for the majority of South Africans, black and white, they had expected naturally that this was going to be a very successful tournament because our people know what a winning nation we are!

Where some of our people had been critical of the preparations, it was not because they wished the country to fail; but it was because they were keenly interested that we should be meticulous in our preparations and succeed. Their own aspirations were intricately linked with the success of the country in hosting this tournament.

What the preparations for this tournament re-affirmed was that sport transcends all national, regional, racial, religious and other boundaries. Sport can succeed where politics and religion fail. However, rather than conceive of these in contradictory terms, we should appreciate the role that each plays in the advancement of the national course of forging social cohesion and patriotism.

We have witnessed a singular resurgence of patriotism and a shared sense of nationhood unseen in the long history of our country. Even the pessimists have had to eat a humble pie and painfully and grudgingly concede that this positive spirit and mood has surpassed even the most ambitious expectations of the rabid optimists.

The scale of excitement towards the 2010 World Cup was further buttressed by the decision by the Blue Bulls to play both their Super 14 Cup semi-final and final games at Orlando Stadium in Soweto. Whilst this may have been occasioned by the unavailability of the Loftus Versveld Stadium because of the FIFA World Cup, this gesture on the part of the Blue Bulls mobilised the nation like never before and broke many new grounds and old stereotypes. What crowned the occasion was the fact that the Super 14 final was an all-South African affair and the Blue Bulls, a South African and African rugby team, was destined to make history.

Assembled at Orlando Stadium for the Super 14 final were South Africans of all races, supporters of different sports codes, who could not have missed that historical moment that showcased South Africa's passion for sport as well as her sport prowess. Soweto came alive for those two games in the most colourful way. It turned blue and you saw white South Africans walking on the streets of Soweto, chanting, singing, braaing and buying beer in the local shebeens and taverns of Soweto. There was no fear for their black counterparts or condescension towards their historical location. On the other hand, the residents of Soweto did not feel ashamed of their historical habitat. They opened up their arms and welcomed their white compatriots in the best way Africans know how.

South Africans were simply united as they would be a few weeks later when the 2010 Soccer World Cup kicked-off at Soccer City on 11 June 2010.

It was important to unite South Africans in that powerful manner before the World Cup kick-off. Rugby supporters, who would ordinarily have been donning the colours of their rugby teams were in the Bafana Bafana colours, blowing their vuvuzelas like there was no tomorrow. The vuvuzela, that in 2002 had been viciously rejected by rugby fans at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town, was universally embraced by all South Africans regardless of race.

The message both from the Soweto residents who opened their township and homes up for the Blue Bulls and the Stormers supporters was loud and clear: Rugby is home in Soweto as it is in Newlands, Ellis Park, Absa Stadium or Loftus Versveld, and that rugby, in the form of the Springboks, the Lions and the Blue Bulls must return to Soweto in the near future, as a permanent and consistent feature.

In awarding the 2010 Soccer World Cup tournament, FIFA offered us in the cradle of humankind the opportunity to welcome all the peoples that today inhabit the vast expanse of our globe back to their mother-continent. Through this tournament, the peoples of the world have been awarded the honour to return to their cradle, where all life began.

The tournament has demonstrated how much the concept and practice of international and African unity and solidarity can re-energise our people, informing our perception and understanding of who we are as a people and how we relate to the rest of the peoples of the world.

The tournament is equally a reward to the international community that had forged unbreakable bonds of solidarity with us during the long years of the struggle against apartheid, and their shared desire to see South Africa and Africa succeed in the effort to achieve the renewal of our country and continent.

Much of the public discussion about the consequences and reward of hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup has focused on the economic benefits that will accrue to our country as a result of hosting the tournament. However, sometimes such economic analyses of such historical events may make greater sense for countries in Europe or other developed countries in the world, but for South Africa, we must look at more than what economic benefits shall be had by our country when we assess the success or failure thereof for hosting such an event.

In 2001, when the new Century commenced, we made the unequivocal statement that the 21st Century was to become an Africa Century, and in awarding this tournament to Africa in 2010, the leadership of world soccer affirmed that indeed Africa's time has come - Ke Nako!

In years, decades and centuries to come, more than the economic benefits we derived from the event, more than the legacy left behind in terms of the infrastructure, the roads and stadiums erected in preparation for the event, perhaps the most important of the benefits we would say we derived from the tournament were the intangible benefits such as social cohesion and patriotism. No amount of material benefits could ever replace or better what we have achieved in the form of national unity, patriotism and social cohesion.

For centuries, Africa has stood out as a continent of wars, violent conflicts, permanent instability, and endemic disregard for the right to life. We have been victims of oppression by others and of internal strife. Our continent has produced more political and economic refugees than any other in the world, and we are viewed as recipients of aid, pity and the benevolence of others.

Indeed, we have ourselves played no small part in this skewed view of ourselves, having had many tyrants and dictators who have denied to our people the democratic systems of governance and respect for the most basic of human rights. We have produced many corrupt leaders and governments, and on many occasions when the world's eyes have been gazed on our continent, it has always been for all the wrong and negative reasons.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup has given the world and us a rare occasion to confront these stereotypes about us and to confound even our worst critics, to paint a new image of ourselves and share with the world our humanity and the sheer and incontrovertible beauty of our mother-continent.

The world cup is a demonstration that we, Africans, are as human as any other human being and that we, human beings of Africa, are as capable as those of other continents to achieve remarkable things. It serves to disprove the prejudices that continue to feed those that still believe that we are sub-human and incapable of global and historic achievements.

Whilst in South Africa, the world has occasion to witness what we have done with the freedom they generously helped us achieve 16 years ago. This way, they too can celebrate what is after all a common human achievement.

Hosting this tournament has proven clearly that South Africa is an active member of the world community. It reminds one of the statement made decades ago by the late ANC President, Cde OR Tambo, that, "We are of the world; and the world is with us".

Besides hosting the World Conference Against Racism, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the very inaugural African Union Summit and countless other global conferences and summits, South Africa is the only country that has now hosted the rugby, cricket and soccer world cups in the short space of 16 years since our liberation and the country's re-admission into the world community of nations. We have further hosted the International Amateur Athletics Federation tournament, the Africa Cup of Nations and the All African Games.

It took us 15 days in 2009 to prepare to and successfully to host the Indian Premier League spectacle that served further to showcase our preparedness for the soccer world cup. In 2004, we also hosted the Presidents Cup attended by global golfing greats, making South Africa the second country outside the United States of America to host the Cup.

It is evident that we should, in the period succeeding this historic tournament, pay increased attention to the all-round development of sport in our country. This relates directly to youth development which is vital to the process of reconstruction and development of our country and the development of our youth as well-rounded human beings.

We have to do a great deal more to ensure the involvement of greater numbers of the youth in sport. This is obviously going to require that we devote the necessary resources to this task. We must use this 2010 Soccer World Cup and the unprecedented levels of social cohesion achieved during it to overcome the previous obstacles towards the full deracialisation of sport in South Africa and thus to increase the participation of youth in all sports codes.

This will mean that we pay special attention to school sports and expand the sports infrastructure among our historically disadvantaged communities. Building on the platform of the world cup and the sheer sports excitement it generated in the nation.

Already, FIFA has reported record attendance figures at the matches, and that these are better than they have been in 20 years. The goals scored are also higher than they have been in the competition at the same stage in the past. The stadiums are perfect and ranked among the best in the world. This makes the first African World Cup to rank among the best, if it is not the best, in the world.

Meanwhile, the Department of Home Affairs had recorded over 744 520 foreign nationals visiting the country during the period 1-23 June 2010, higher than the visitors that came to the country during the same time in 2009. The majority of the visitors are SADC nationals, followed by the nationals of the other continents.

These figures make this a truly spectacular showpiece and indeed Africa has every reason to be proud of these achievements.

We need to do everything to sustain the current levels of social cohesion and patriotism. The World Cup alone was not the end we sought as a nation and continent, but an important step towards that end. This means that all our leaders - political, religious and others - should do their best to avoid the easy resort to divisive and parochial race politics that would reverse all the gains we have made during this tournament.

This has been our finest hour! Ke Nako!