One year countdown to the World Cup in Africa has begun

South African President Jacob Zuma has started the one-year countdown to the 2010 World Cup, saying its success would confound sceptics. Zuma, who played football at the notorious Robben Island prison where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for two decades, kicked a ball into a crowd of construction workers at Green Point stadium to start the countdown to 2010. He said: "I think one thing is for certain we have proved to the world that South Africans are special people, when we have challenges we always rise to the occasion and meet our challenges, no matter what type of challenges we come across. "I think we have proved to the world that we are a country that must be counted on, when we talk about countries that can do wonders." The brand new Cape Town stadium, still under construction, is one of ten World Cup venues. Officials say all of them will be finished by December and the fears that South Africa would not be ready are now mostly muted. Jerome Valcke, secretary-general of football's governing body Fifa, agreed South Africa was on track to host a successful tournament, despite concerns over the impact of the global recession and the country's fearsome record for violent crime. He said it was now up to South Africa, which will deploy 41,000 police officers to protect fans and players, to meet the needs of foreign visitors. Organisers hope a boom in infrastructure spending for the competition and millions spent by foreign fans will help Africa's biggest economy dig out of its first recession in 17 years.

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ITN | June 12, 2009

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