SOUTH AFRICA: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - President Jacob Zuma marks one year countdown to the 2010 World Cup

Record ID: 453150

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - President Jacob Zuma marks one year countdown to the 2010 World Cup
  • Date: 12th June 2009
  • Summary: GREENPOINT STADIUM, CAPE TOWN; SOUTH AFRICA (JUNE 11, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THE GREENPOINT STADIUM CONSTRUCTION WORKERS SEATED AT THE STADIUM CONSTRUCTION WORKERS SINGING AND DANCING SIGN SAYING: "AFRICA'S TIME HAS COME" CAPE TOWN MAYOR HELEN ZILLE WITH OFFICIALS VARIOUS OF SOUTH AFRICA'S PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA ARRIVING AT THE GREENPOINT STADIUM WORKERS AND FIFA OFFICIALS LISTENING TO PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA JACOB ZUMA ADDRESSING WORKERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH AFRICA'S PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA SAYING: "Now it's just one year, before there is a kick off, and of course there is our wonderful team Bafana Bafana" MORE OF ZUMA ADDRESSING THE WORKERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH AFRICA'S PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA SAYING: "I think one thing certain we have proved to the world that South Africans are special people, when we have challenges we always rise to the occasion and meet our challenges, no matter what type of challenges we come across, I think we have proved to the world that we are a country that must be counted on, when we talk about countries that can do wonders." MORE OF THE WORKERS LISTENING TO PRESIDENT ZUMA VARIOUS OF JACOB ZUMA KICKING THE SOCCER BALL 2010 COUNTDOWN FLAG GOING UP MORE OF THE STADIUM AND SKYLINE
  • Embargoed: 27th June 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA5ESF8R90GKGIW6NZO1UO0HT2N
  • Story Text: South African President Jacob Zuma, who once played soccer as an apartheid prisoner, started the one-year countdown to the 2010 World Cup on Thursday (June 11) and said its success would confound sceptics.
    "Now it's just one year, before there is a kick off, and of course there is our wonderful team Bafana Bafana" Zuma said.
    Zuma, who both played and refereed football at the notorious Robben Island prison where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for two decades, kicked a ball into a crowd of construction workers at Green Point stadium to start the countdown to June 11, 2010.
    "I think one thing certain we have proved to the world that South Africans are special people, when we have challenges we always rise to the occasion and meet our challenges, no matter what type of challenges we come across, I think we have proved to the world that we are a country that must be counted on, when we talk about countries that can do wonders." added Zuma.
    The brand new Cape Town stadium, still under construction, is one of 10 World Cup venues. Officials say all of them will be finished by December and the widespread earlier fears that South Africa would not be ready are now mostly muted.
    Jerome Valcke, secretary-general of football's governing body FIFA, agreed South Africa was on track to host a successful tournament, despite concerns over the impact of the global recession and the country's fearsome record for violent crime one of the worst in the world.
    He said it was now up to South Africa, which will deploy 41,000 police officers to protect fans and players, to meet the needs of foreign visitors.
    Valcke told reporters at the stadium that security is an issue around the world, as the sounds of a vuvuzela, a local trumpet used by football fans and one of the symbols of 2010, blasted out.
    Organisers hope a boom in infrastructure spending for the competition and millions of dollars from foreign fans will help Africa's biggest economy dig out of its first recession in 17 years.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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