World Cup 2010 and S.A. News:

SA 2010 World Cup preparations get into gear. City Press, South Africa - Sep 4, 2004

THE World Cup 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) will be up and running before the end of this month. This was disclosed yesterday by World Cup preparatory committee chairman Irvin Khoza .

The hard-working administrator said the committee had made a recommendation to the SA Football Association (Safa) - Khoza is vice-president of Safa - that the LOC be set up before the January target set by Safa. Safa had initially given the preparatory committee and the World Cup Bid Company until December 31 to wind down business and make way for the LOC to be formed in January. Khoza is chairman of both committees. Other members of the preparatory committee are Danny Jordaan, who is also chief executive of the bid company, and businessmen Tokyo Sexwale and Selwyn Nathan. "After several consultations, we made a recommendation to Safa that the LOC be formed earlier than planned. Now we have gained more information and we will table a report at the full Safa congress during the AGM on September 11. I am optimistic that the structure will be up and running before the end of the month," said Khoza. Khoza believes his confidence stems from several meetings his committee has held with parties who are important to the hosting of the World Cup. The preparatory committee is fresh from a trip to the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, Fifa's headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, and Germany, where they met with members of the German Football Association and the 2006 World Cup organising committee. "While in Athens, we had a meeting with members of the Fifa marketing committee. In Zurich we met the finance committee, and we also met Dr Urs Linsi, the Fifa secretary-general," Khoza said. The committee had learnt some valuable things in Germany. "It is important that we keep close contact with Germany as they will be hosting the World Cup in 2006, the last one before South Africa's turn," he said. Soon after returning from Germany, the preparatory committee hosted a five-man Fifa delegation which was in SA to observe the progress made. "It emerged from our consultation with the Fifa delegation that they shared our view that the LOC should be formed earlier than January," said Khoza. He had also held a successful meeting with the commissioner of the SA Revenue Services, Pravin Gordham, to clear all financial obligations the LOC will face once it is formed. Khoza said the SA World Cup committees had also consulted regularly with the government. "The government has given us the names of individuals to deal with in the department of justice and the treasury. We have scheduled a meeting with the Development Bank of Southern Africa for September 17. It is important that we meet with this particular bank as they have all the data we need on the cities that will be involved in hosting the World Cup in 2010." Armed with all this information, Khoza feels that his committee will be ready for setting up the LOC before the end of the month.

He said the view within the committee was that the LOC should be a public benefit company formed as a Section 21, non-profit-making organisation.

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