Alluding to South Africa’s narrow one vote defeat in the 2006 Soccer World Cup bid, Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour on Monday said that that ”setback allowed us to come back even stronger”.
Balfour was speaking at a Cape Town media briefing in the run-up to the official bid launch, scheduled for April 30 when Bafana Bafana play Jamaica at the Athlone soccer stadium.
”This is a South African bid, owned by all South Africans… Cape Town has the unique opportunity to book its place when Sepp Blatter announces the bid winner in May 2004,” said Balfour.
He said the next 13 months would be very busy with a concerted effort needed from everybody to ensure the bid was successful.
”There is no time or place for competing cities, individuals or projects.”
Balfour said the benefits of hosting the Soccer World Cup would be enormous for sport and the country as a whole, and enjoyed the full backing of President Thabo Mbeki and the government.
”There are no fewer than 12 government departments already working on the bid,” Balfour said, calling on everybody to unite behind bid committee members Danny Jordaan and Irvin Khoza, both of whom were not present at the briefing because of prior engagements.
Balfour, sporting a t-shirt with the bid 2010 logo, said he was confident the bid would be successful this time around, despite the fact that other African countries such as Libya and Nigeria were also bidding to host the tournament.
”We will never underestimate our brothers and sisters on the continent… but will pull out all the stops to win the bid… and will take no prisoners.”
Pledging Cape Town’s support, city mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo said the city was one of many exciting venues, not only because of its ”professionalism, but also because of its infrastructure”.
”We can assure that (we) have a safe city with all the facilities needed, and would welcome players with pride and open hearts,” she said.
Western Cape Sports MEC Patrick McKenzie said that should the soccer bid be successful, there would be ”dancing in the streets” just like for the cricket and rugby world cups.
Imraan Soomra of the bid committee said the estimated costs for the bid were in the region of R80-million, with most of the costs incurred because the campaign would be run internationally, as well as nationally.
South Africa was expected to bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games and possibly the 2020 Olympic Games as well. – Sapa