Speaker, there were those who said that our country, let alone Africa, should never have been awarded the 19th Fifa World Cup. "The stadiums will never be built on time," they predicted. "Fifa has Australia waiting in the wings as Plan B," they whispered. Some even said we would be engulfed in a machete civil war after the murder of Eugene Terre'Blanche - just to sell a few more newspapers. We have proved those hollow doomsayers wrong, and we have shown that we have left our past far behind. [Applause.]
Sir, 49 million South Africans have proved to the world that the most a pessimist can ever achieve is the empty consolation of being right. Yes, 49 million South Africans stand before the world today and say with one voice: "Ke nako!" ["Now is the time!"] We are ready! [Applause.]
But more than that, we are ready to deliver a uniquely African World Cup. As Africans, we celebrate our common heritage in the calabash setting, nestling in its ring of fire at Soccer City, the Moses Mabhida arch at eThekwini, and the giraffe supports at Mbombela stadium.
We ask the football gods to echo the words of Isaiah and bestow upon us wings to soar like eagles, and midfielders who will run and not grow weary. Let us hope our strikers will be swifter than cheetahs on greased lightning, and that the Mexican, Uruguayan and French defenders will be slower than turtles swimming through peanut butter. [Applause.] Now wouldn't that be ayoba [nice]? We wish for referees with eyes sharper than the African fish eagle in our opponents' penalty area and that they will be especially vigilant on 22 June in Bloemfontein, where we hope Thierry Henry will keep his hands strictly to himself. [Laughter.] |Phambili, Bafana Bafana! Phambili, Aaron Mokoena! Phambili! [Forward, Bafana Bafana! Forward, Aaron Mokoena! Forward!]
HON MEMBERS: Phambili! [Forward!]