Tumo Mokone

Ke nako – Africa time is now. The moment to bury all doubts about South Africa being a deserving World Cup or not, has finally arrived.

The FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup draw taking place in Cape Town this evening is going to be the biggest television show of the year.

Roughly 220 countries and a total global audience of 200 million people will watch the spectacle unfold from the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

According to the hype so far, it is going to be a big show with countless spin-offs for the image of the country.

First off the mark will be the CTICC, whose splendour will advertise the venue as the place to seek for global conferences and other stately or entertainment events.

The ICC in Durban is already world famous for the above purposes, but after tonight the Cape may be the place to be in future.

The accommodation and property markets in the Mother City are already in a dizzy spin with millions of dollars being thrown about for the comfort of the high and mighty from Zurich, Hollywood, London and Lagos.

The line-up of entertainers, mostly South African, with veteran muso Johnny Clegg at the top of the heap, is set to win local artists a major endorsement internationally. SA artists are already in demand overseas, but I can imagine previously unknown concert halls in places like Bulgaria, Slovenia, Chile and Cote d’Ivoire will soon be opening their doors for SA’s live acts.

Danny Jordaan, the local organising committee’s CEO, has for the past four years or so preached the gospel of the World Cup not being about the football alone. It may not have made sense to some all that time, but with Benoni-born Hollywood screen goddess Charlize Theron being the co-presenter tonight, then it makes a lot of sense.

David Beckham is here too, and not just as an England player, but as an ambassador for that country’s bid to host the tournament in 2018. There are other bids from Europe - and Australia, whose ambassador is another actress Nicole Kidman – who will be working hard over the weekend to impress the normally acerbic FIFA executive. Beckham has already succeeded in impressing the FIFA president Sepp Blatter, a wily character whose real thoughts can be a mystery despite his outspokenness.

Last week the SA Football Association (SAFA) took a low-key resolution to appoint Jordaan to head the bid committee to bid for 2012 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup. Though the committee is still to be appointed, you can trust the sleepless Danny to pull lots of strings tonight to put SA in the driving seat for the acquisition of that tournament.

No women’s FIFA event has ever taken place in Africa, and after the continent impressed with two events this year – the Under-20 and Under-17 tournaments in Egypt and Nigeria respectively – South Africa can fancy their chances of breaking the ice for the women. The Under-20 Women’s World Cup does not require the whole country or even large sports stadiums to host it. The Western Cape alone can do the job. Imagine FIFA World Cup matches in places like Stellenbosch, Wellington or Hermanus... and with the diplomatic Jordaan at the helm, I put my laptop down – it’s a done deal!
 
As far as Bafana Bafana are concerned, I pray for another favourable draw – just like the one we had for the Confederations Cup in June, with Iraq and New Zealand in our group.

There is no Iraq this time around, but the All Whites are back - and may the soccer gods be so kind as to deliver them to us again! The complete draw for South Africa’s Group A could read: New Zealand, Uruguay and Slovenia. For well-known reasons of Bafana’s weakness, such opposition is what we need to have any chance of advancing to the next round. From then onwards is up to the footballing gods.

There are plenty of reasons suggesting the 2010 World Cup will rank among the biggest ever. The draw tonight has already surpassed Germany figures, which was beamed to 134.5 million people in 137 countries. It remains to be seen whether the interest in the tournament itself will be bigger than 2006.

But with our tournament in the middle of winter, pictures of a cold South Africa in June this year during the Confed Cup might be a turn-off for many fans.

June 2010 is six months away. The stadiums are ready while plenty other logistics are still being finalised. Over and above these and other speculation, nothing can afford to go wrong tonight. It’s time for South Africa and Africa to shine.

Tumo writes exclusively for Sport24.

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