T Mbeki: 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Kick-Off Workshops

24 October 2006

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.

Thank you.

Issued by: The Presidency
24 October 2006