For Planning Purposes For More Information
Ambassador Nomvume Magaqa Brings the World Cup Celebration from South Africa to Chicago
WHEN: 11:00 a.m. Thursday, June 10, 2010
200 S Michigan Ave. Suite 600 Chicago, IL 60604
WHAT: Ambassador Nomvume Magaqa will conduct a news conference next Thursday to announce the variety of World Cup events in Chicago sponsored by South Africa.
BACKGROUND: The 2010 FIFA World Cup is, in a very real sense, Nelson Mandela’s World Cup. Without Nelson Mandela, it is highly unlikely that South Africa would be hosting the competition this year. The vibrant young democracy millions the world over will be experiencing over the coming month owes its birth, vitality and unity to Mr. Mandela. It was Mr. Mandela, more than anyone, who convinced FIFA to select South Africa as the 2010 host nation. It is therefore highly fitting that exactly one week after the final whistle blows on July 11, the world will be coming together again to celebrate what the United Nations has officially declared as Mandela Day.
Sport has played a decisive role in the building of South Africa’s democracy and in bringing together its once bitterly divided people after generations of racial oppression. Mr. Mandela has a profound appreciation for the healing power of sport. Soccer kept hope alive for Mr. Mandela and his fellow political prisoners on Robben Island. Of all the sanctions imposed on apartheid South Africa by the international community, few if any had as great an impact as South Africa’s exclusion from international competition. And nothing has done more to bring the nation together since the “miracle” election of 1994 when Mr. Mandela became the first South African president to be chosen in a genuinely democratic election.
As recounted in the recent film Invictus, Mr. Mandela seized the opportunity created by the chance of South Africa winning the 1995 Rugby World Cup to promote national reconciliation. The success of South Africa’s soccer team, Bafana Bafana, in the African cup of Nations the following year also contributed powerfully to the cause of nation building. Today, as they prepare to host the world’s most popular sporting event, South Africans are united as never before around a common flag and a common spirit, the spirit of Nelson Mandela.
