Date: 18/08/2010
Source: Inkatha Freedom Party
Title: IFP: Buthelezi: Address by the president of the IFP, during the debate on a successful hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, National Assembly, Cape Town

Like every South African, I am proud of what my country has achieved in
hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The significance of this international
event held on South African soil transcends the beautiful game; it is about
more than soccer, vuvuzelas and team spirit. It spoke of South Africa's firm
footing in the international arena as a noteworthy player. We did our
country proud and promoted our continent. Our nation is still cheering.

It was here, on South African soil, that Bafana Bafana delivered a 2-1
victory over the ninth ranked team in the world. It was here that Bongani
Khumalo, Siphiwe Tshabalala and Katlego Mphela brought a nation to its feet.
It was here that Ghana's Black Stars qualified from the group stage to the
quarter-finals and carried with them the pride of a continent. It was here
that the world came, watched, cheered and wept. And it was here that a new
platform for national unity was forged.

Never before in South Africa's history have our people been so unified. In
my almost 82 years I have never seen South Africans from all walks of life
doing the same thing, at the same time, for the same reason; until I
witnessed the Soccer World Cup. Standing in Soccer City, which has been
called "the melting pot of African cultures", I was struck by the diversity
of the spectators. Aside from our international guests, here we had blacks,
whites, Indians, coloureds, English speakers, Afrikaners, isiXhosa, isiZulu,
Sesotho, men and women, young and old, gathered in one place; voluntarily.

We do not see that kind of diversity in the crowds that gather to celebrate
our national days. I have remarked before in this House that our national
events still fail to attract a representative group. We still see Freedom
Day celebrations attended mostly by blacks; so too with Human Rights' Day,
Workers' Day and Youth Day. It was sad, after witnessing the diverse group
that turned out for the World Cup, to see Women's Day celebrations again
supported primarily by blacks.

I had hoped to see the national unity we built during June and July spill
over into a new dynamic when it comes to celebrating together as a nation.
If soccer could unite us, why should Heritage Day still see us divided? I
still hope to see South Africans coming together on the 24th of September as
we did on the 11th of June. It is time we delved a little deeper to find
what binds us as a nation. May the World Cup be the catalyst of that
process.

Many of us in this House have expressed the hope that we might harness the
goodwill that the World Cup created and somehow extend its benefits. There
is a tangible fear that the World Cup fever will collapse and turn sour; and
we may very well hear today how much money was spent and how it could have
been spent elsewhere. It is true that the millions we raised to build state
of the art stadia were necessarily channeled away from building hospitals,
schools and houses. But if we choose to step under that shadow of regret, we
must be ready to relinquish the goodwill and sense of unity we have managed
to create.

I think that would be a pity.

Already our successful hosting of the World Cup leaves us with a tremendous
challenge. We have proven to our people what we are capable of and we have
raised their expectations for the future. We managed to pull together
enormous resources in a short space of time. We managed to upgrade
infrastructure that has long been in need of attention. We relocated Durban
International Airport. We got the Gautrain running. We raised a R3,3 billion
stadium in Soweto. And we hosted a million visitors with grace and aplomb.

If we are able to do all this, our people are certainly going to ask why we
are not able to address the daily challenges they face. Why can we not fix a
pothole in Atteridgeville? Why does it take months to deliver basic services
to the poorest of our communities? These questions are bound to be on the
lips of our people in the wake of our greatest success. For better or worse,
we have raised the bar, and now we must rise to meet it.