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Date
: 24/10/2006
Source: The Presidency
Title: Mbeki: 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Kick-Off
Workshops
Welcoming remarks of the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, at
the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Kick-Off Workshops, Cape Town
International Convention Centre, Cape Town
FIFA Executive Member, Dr Amos Adamu
Chairperson of the 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC), Irwin
Khoza
CEO of the LOC, Danny Jordaan
Ministers and other government representatives
Representatives of the official partners, sponsors and licensees of
the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup
Distinguished participants and guests
Ladies and gentlemen:
On behalf of the government and people of South Africa, I am
pleased to welcome all the participants at these very important
2010 FIFA World Cup Kick-off Workshops. It is, indeed, "kick-off"
time for the real hard work of making the 2010 FIFA Soccer World
Cup the most successful tournament of them all.
Our get-together here marks yet another important step as we travel
the road together towards finally hosting the most prestigious
tournament of the beautiful game, football, on the African
continent, and for the first time ever. I would like to thank FIFA
most sincerely for organising these Kick-off Workshops so that each
and every one of us understands our responsibilities and plays our
respective roles as we should.
During these workshops, Cabinet Ministers who are responsible for
such portfolios as Sports and Recreation, Transport, Finance,
Provincial and Local Government, Safety and Security and
Environment Affairs and Tourism, all of them members of the 2010
FIFA World Cup Inter-Ministerial Committee headed by the Deputy
President of the Republic, will provide you with the necessary
briefing.
The high-level government participation in the 2010 FIFA World Cup
Kick-off Workshops reflects not only the seriousness of the tasks
that lie ahead of us, but also our Government's passion and
unequivocal commitment to make the 2010 World Cup an eminently
successful tournament. I am here today to say to you that our
government will be with you all the way to 2010. All of us from
government, in all its spheres are here to reassure all the
participants at these workshops that, like you all, we will do
everything necessary to ensure that in 2010, "we win with Africa,
in Africa".
Accordingly, I am certain that each and every one of us will do the
right things and spare no effort to ensure that everything
necessary for a truly successful 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup is done
on time, and preferably ahead of schedule, meeting all the
specifications set by FIFA and all the things expected of us by the
billions of football fans across the world.
This includes the preparation of the required stadia, the
development of the transport system, the establishment of the most
modern communication system, the building of the safety and
security infrastructure, and the cultivation of a positive public
mood in the nation, fully supportive of all our efforts and
confident of our collective success.
I can say with the greatest certainty that all of us will win in
2010 and not just the players and teams that will compete, provided
that we talk the same language of confidence in ourselves and our
Continent of winning in Africa, with Africa, of the united resolve
of the people of Africa from the Mediterranean Sea to the
confluence of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans to ensure that in 2010
our Continent makes the unequivocal statement that Africa's time
has come!
As Africans, we must even say that 2010 provides us with the golden
opportunity to plan correctly on and off the playing fields so that
at the end of the tournament the most prestigious global sports Cup
remains on the Mother Continent.
Many years ago now, Africa's middle and long distance runners burst
into the world of athletics as though they were a bolt from the
blue. Today, European football would not enjoy the prestige it does
if it did not enjoy the outstanding services of African
footballers. There is absolutely no reason why 2010 will not, as
Kip Keino, Haile Gebraiselasie, Said Aouita and Maria Mutola did,
ensure that Africa bursts on our common globe, virtually like a
bolt from the blue, surprising the sceptics not only about the
prowess of the millions of African footballers, but also about
Africa's capacity successfully to provide an outstanding home for a
global tournament of universal joy and celebration.
Today, Africa is a Continent under construction. Like our valued
foreign guests with us today, as they travel among us our visitors
in 2010 will see a lot of exciting work-in-progress in many sectors
of our society to give meaning to our humanity, as our current
preparations for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup stand out as yet
another example of a great site of work-in-progress in Africa that
will assert our shared humanity with the nations of the
world.
To discover the human fulfilment embedded in African reality,
FIFA's official partners, sponsors and licensees should take up our
invitation to explore today and indeed beyond 2010, the great
message of indestructible human hope that thrives among the African
masses despite their poverty.
Everyday, as Africans we speak of the need to respect the dignity
of all human beings and embrace the universal values of ubuntu of
compassion and human solidarity. I must presume that we speak as we
do, of the vital importance of the sustenance of the values of
ubuntu, because the experience of human savagery, directed against
us, is deeply embedded in our collective memory.
I am privileged to have the opportunity today to communicate this
same important message of FIFA and its official partners, sponsors
and licensees of the importance to us of the message you have
brought to us that we will all win in Africa, with Africa.
To those among us who are investing considerable resources to
ensure the success of the 2010 FIFA African Soccer World Cup, I
would like to repeat the words in the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes
– cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it
after many days!
I wish all the participants in these Kick-off Workshops much
success in your deliberations. Welcome to the fairest Cape and to
our magnificent shores where football is indeed an enduring
passion. We are equally delighted to be a host country for the FIFA
Interactive World Cup in November and hope that all South Africans
will be eager participants in this virtual sport for football
fans.
Once more, I would like to assure the FIFA delegation that is with
us today that our government and the entirety of our people have
dedicated the period up to 2010 to the resounding success of the
FIFA African Soccer World Cup.
Indeed, I am confident that through these workshops and the other
work ahead of us, our hearts, spirits, minds and bodies will talk,
live and breathe in unison towards the achievement of the common
goal of helping to define 2010 for all humanity as eminently the
year of the celebration of the fulfilment of the dreams of an
entire people about their dignity, that have taken centuries to
realise.
May the fairest Cape, where we meet today, inspire all of us to
bring hope in 2010 to billions across the world, from the favelas
of Sao Paulo to the inspirational women's football team in Iran, to
FIFA's over 100 Goal humanitarian projects in Senegal, Morocco,
Cape Verde, American Samoa and across the developing world,
utilising the fairest game of them all, football, so that FIFA,
Africa and the entire global football family win in Africa, with
Africa.
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