South Africa 'will deliver'

Chief executive of the local organising committee confident of successful finals

Last updated: 2nd December 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

South Africa 'will deliver'

Fifa president Sepp Blatter met with then-South African president Thabo Mbeki back in 2008

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Danny Jordaan has the utmost confidence that South Africa 'will deliver' a successful World Cup finals.

South Africa have endured some negative press since they were named as the hosts for the 2010 tournament, amid claims that the competition could even be staged in the United States at the last moment.

However, with all the stadia near completion if not already finished, a successful World Cup is now eagerly anticipated ahead of Friday's draw.

And for Jordaan, chief executive of the local organising committee, next year's tournament represents both a challenge and a justification of 11 years of hard work.

Jordaan said: "We won the right to host the event and everyone congratulated us and said we deserved it.

"But three months later everyone was saying, 'Can they host the event?' There have been doubts from start to finish, but it is going to be a wonderful World Cup. Everyone is focused.

Security

"People know the whole world is watching us. Governments always over-promise and under-deliver but this time they are motivated to deliver."

The big issue for South Africa remains security, in particular protecting fans in a country notorious for its crime rate.

Jordaan has pointed out that tourists are rarely the targets, and indeed the statistics back up the argument that most of the crime and violence takes place in the lawless townships.

He added: "South Africa has hosted 140 world-class events since 1994 without a single problem, including June's Confederations Cup, the cricket and rugby World Cups and many other major international events without any trouble.

"We have done our homework at making sure fans, teams and officials will be safe at match venues and training grounds.

"We do not anticipate any problems. We have had 9.8million visitors to South Africa this year. My responsibility is to ensure match and training venues, hotels where fans and teams are staying, are secure and this I can guarantee."

Hammered

One public incident could be enough to ruin all that good work however, something which Jordaan accepts.

He said: "It can happen in any other country and it's okay. It happens here and we will get hammered.

"It is a perception but we must not stop working at it because if we do, people will say, 'I told you so'."

Almost everyone in football accepts that a successful World Cup in South Africa will strike a blow for the prestige of developing nations, and Jordaan acknowledges there is a burden of expectation.

"It is a special moment for the country and we want the world to see our country through different eyes," he said.

"The challenge is to shape the concept of how the World Cup will look.

"What is our mission? What do we want to achieve? Part of it is to ensure our country is a better place."

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