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Date
: 15/08/2006
Source: The Presidency
Title: Pahad: 2010 National Communication Partnership
Conference
Opening speech by Dr Essop Pahad, Minister in The Presidency
and member of the Board of the 2010 Local Organising Committee,
2010 National Communication Partnership Conference,
Johannesburg
2010 – the communication opportunity for our continent and
country
Programme Director;
Our visitors from other countries;
Fellow South Africans
On the day we heard that FIFA had decided to award us the right to
host the first African World Cup, it was more than a dream come
true. It was a moment of national pride and it signalled that we
had truly taken our rightful place in the world of international
sport.
We take this moment to remember and recall all the people who have
been involved in soccer in South Africa for many years; people who
worked for almost a century to unify a sport fragmented by racial
policies into a host of organisations.
In the darkest days of the apartheid era we may have dreamed of one
day seeing a World Cup match; but never did we dare dream that that
one day we would actually host a World Cup. That was an idea that
would have seemed unrealisable.
For many decades Africa struggled to get the World Cup hosted in
Africa. FIFA’s historic decision in 2001 that the 2010 FIFA
World Cup should be held in Africa has made the dream of millions
of Africans come true. Many who worked for this are no longer with
us. Those who believe in the ancestors will know that the ancestors
are celebrating – and those who don’t will know that
their soccer forebears are turning in their graves with joy! They
would all be with me when I acknowledge the important and energetic
role by President Blatter in ensuring that an African World Cup was
high on FIFA’s agenda. What a marked contrast to a former
FIFA President Stanley Raus.
I still vividly recall, that as a young political activist I went
to the then Jan Smuts Airport to demonstrate against Raus’
presence in South Africa. I held up a placard that simply but
poignantly said “Raus Go Home”. Today in August 2006 I
along with millions of South Africans am proud to say
“Blatter Welcome Home”.
There is another dimension that gives 2010 particular significance
for us in South Africa, for our continent and for all those across
the world who love freedom and democracy – the global
solidarity movement that was an integral part of our struggle for
freedom and democracy.
We cannot overstate the significance of the sport boycott of
apartheid South Africa. It is especially important as memories fade
and revisionist history is being written. Only a few weeks ago one
of our newspapers carried an article from New Zealand as that
country marked the anniversary of the landmark demonstration
against the Springboks. The article writes off the demonstration
and the boycott as producing “no winners”. On the
contrary, it was a victory over what the United Nations declared
was a crime against humanity, and all the freedom-loving people in
South Africa and around the world were winners.
The boycott and sport sanctions were a significant part of the
struggle for freedom. FIFA’s support for the boycott was
critical. In deciding to expel South Africa in 1976 – as CAF
had done - FIFA made a concrete contribution to bringing about
democracy in South Africa and indeed to the unification of soccer
and of our people. In doing so FIFA aligned itself fully with
Africa’s resolve to rid the continent and the world of
apartheid.
There is a further way in which 2010 transcends anything we could
have imagined in those early days – there will be different
focus on Africa in general and South Africa in particular. The
games of 2010 will be seen by literally billions of people across
the world. And in ways that were never possible before, they will,
for the next four years, be looking at our country and our
continent with an intensity that is unlikely to repeat itself for
decades.
As we have already seen, this can be a double-edged sword. Some
will use it to nurture pessimism or push their own causes. This
means that for communicators to seize the opportunities of 2010
they will need to be effective in displacing that kind of
negativity with a compelling vision and flow of information that
speaks of the reality of progress and of united action to deal with
potential problems and challenges.
You will be discussing in detail today the opportunities of
marketing and branding of country and continent; and of the ways in
which communicators can help realise the potential of 2010 so as to
be a catalyst to speed up development programmes.
What I would like to emphasise is that it can also be a catalyst
for further nation building, for building national unity, regional
integration and continental solidarity.
South Africa’s achievements in overcoming the obstacles to
freedom and the progress we have achieved in our first years of
democracy have created confidence that we can indeed meet the goals
we have set ourselves, of halving poverty and unemployment by 2014
and creating a more inclusive society that truly belongs to all.
Uniting all of our society around a common vision is essential to
reaching those goals – communicators have a crucial role to
play and 2010 has the potential to help us immeasurably in these
national endeavours.
Those of you who were fortunate enough to attend the 2006 World
Cup, together with billions across the world who watched the World
Cup, will know how much it did to cement a nation previously deeply
divided. In the same vein the years leading up to 2010 can and
definitely will be the catalyst to the realisation of our vision of
building a united, cohesive, non-racial, non-sexist democratic and
prosperous South Africa.
It is also a matter of mobilising all South Africans to work
together to ensure the preparations go smoothly and on schedule; to
take the economic opportunities that come; and to make this an
unforgettable experience for all - for our visitors and for all
South Africans.
We will need to work with African communicators, across the
continent, to use the occasion to improve the image of country and
continent and convey the message that this is a country alive with
possibility and a continent of great opportunity. As communicators
we will need to follow the example of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) tourism Ministers who met last week
and resolved to work together in marketing and branding the
region’s tourism to ensure that it benefits from 2010. And
the next African Union (AU) summit will be devoting time to
discussing 2010 and what it can do to help ensure that the
continent works together.
To achieve these objectives will require that all our communicators
in their many disciplines pull together in the same broad
direction. It is a matter of creativity and energies being
harnessed towards ensuring that 2010 will be remembered for decades
to come as an event that left our country and continent more united
and more confident about who we are and what we want to become.
This does not mean that we must all say exactly the same thing
– but that whatever we do communicate should be informed by
common messages and shared branding with an eye to ensuring that
2010 benefits Africa.
That is why the proposal made two years ago for a 2010 National
Communication Partnership was one which we strongly supported. We
have seen it grow, focusing until now on the building of networks
and capacity, observing the discipline of self-imposed silence
until the end of the 2006 tournament in Germany.
Now is the time to break that silence. I would like to commend the
Partnership for holding this conference at the earliest opportunity
after the final whistle blew on 2006, and to thank the
International Marketing Council for convening it. It is an
essential step towards that critically important condition –
aligning all our communication as we approach 2010.
When we made our bid to host 2010 as Africa’s stage, we said
it was Africa’s call. That call has been answered and FIFA
has declared that our country shall be Africa’s stage in
2010.
We said then, and we repeat now with absolute conviction and
confidence the message that should inform all that you say in this
period, that South Africa is a country alive with possibility and
Africa a continent of great opportunities.
What we can say with confidence, as far as the 2010 FIFA World Cup
is concerned, is that Africa’s time has come! and South
Africa is ready!
Let us ensure that as communicators we do our utmost not only to
voice that message but to work in such a way that we help make the
most of this opportunity of a lifetime. I wish you a hard-working,
focused and fruitful engagement with one another!
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