Mr Speaker, the Acting President, the Chairperson of the NCOP and hon members, the UDM wishes Bafana Bafana the best of luck. We will be supporting them all the way.
Allow me to salute former President Mandela and the leadership of football in South Africa during the 1990s. They had the vision and gumption to mount a serious bid which eventually succeeded in convincing the world. We also, once more, thank the Local Organising Committee for turning the idea into reality once we had won the bid.
We are on the eve of an historic event for our country. The value of such an event cannot be measured in rands and cents alone. If we are committed and fortunate, the Fifa World Cup will deliver to us a month of goodwill amongst South Africans, as well as between us and the rest of the world - a month of goodwill that could add immensely to nation-building and to our standing among the peoples of the world.
We are a country of intense emotions at certain times. However, for the next month we are in a position to show first-hand to hundreds of thousands of visitors how friendly and easy-going we are most of the time, not to speak of the opportunity to showcase our beautiful country to tens of millions of potential tourists via television broadcasts.
Finally, in terms of infrastructure development, the World Cup has had an impact on the socioeconomic landscape of the country. As a result, we were cushioned from the effects of the recession when it occurred. It is our hope that these developments will be cascaded beyond the host stadiums and cities. How I wish that the SA National Roads Agency, which has done a sterling job on certain highways, could be empowered to expand its efforts to all provincial roads.
Mr Speaker, if I may advise Bafana Bafana, in a spirit of noninterference, I would like to offer this reminder to the national coach: It is goals that win matches. The recent trend of goal-scoring by Bafana Bafana is a welcome development. May they continue to strike the back of the net regularly for another five weeks. Thank you. [Applause.]