JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) – Next year’s soccer World Cup will have a major impact in building racial harmony and stimulating future economic growth in South Africa, organising committee chief Danny Jordaan said on Tuesday.
In an interview, Jordaan also dismissed concerns over transport, accommodation and crime during the World Cup.
He said June’s Confederations Cup, viewed as a rehearsal for 2010, had seen whites and blacks, rich and poor, mixing and sitting together at matches.
“It is an experience that many people never had in this country. All of those things convey the kind of images and the mood we want the world to see of a country of both black and white celebrating football.”
If the same atmosphere prevailed during the much bigger World Cup next June and July “then I think we will have taken a significant step forward to create that non-racial country that (Nelson) Mandela was dreaming of.”
Jordaan said the success of the Confederations Cup had changed the atmosphere ahead of 2010 from doubt and questioning to anticipation and excitement. “The doubting Thomases are now believing Thomases,” he said.
Asked about crime, a serious concern because of South Africa’s record levels of murder and rape, Jordaan said visiting fans would be in the same situation as the 9.5 million tourists visiting South Africa annually, almost all without problems. Security around the event, when the fans, teams and tourists would be in known locations which police could monitor, was completely different to random general crime.
EVENT SECURITY
South Africa had successfully staged many events, including a rugby and cricket world cup and hosted the recent British and Irish Lions rugby tour at the same time as the Confederations Cup without major incident.
“This country has the capability and the capacity to deal with security from an event standpoint. Crime is a different challenge.”
Asked about South Africa’s current “winter of discontent” of labour disputes, which included a now-resolved strike by workers building World Cup stadiums, Jordaan said working class South Africans were football fans and committed to the event.
“I think the workers understand the importance … for the country. We want not just infrastructure improvement and increased tourism. We want to see it as a nation building exercise, we want to see a brand building image makeover for this country and the continent… we want to attract more tourists, more foreign direct investment, greater trade, so that it will be a lasting legacy beyond the event.”
