Lifestyle Weird and Wonderful
World Cup chief organiser Danny Jordaan, speaking a day before the start of the biggest single sports event on earth, says he wants a “smaller job”.
The CEO of the local organising committee on Thursday likened the run-up to the 2010 Soccer World Cup to the struggle against apartheid, joking that his next career move might be to the Post Office.
Jordaan said the excitement reminded him of the day before anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was released from prison; or the day before South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994.
“Then the prison doors opened and he [Mandela] walked out... and we thought, what are we going to do next? I think I will look for a smaller job now ... like a job in the Post Office. I think I've seen enough struggle,” Jordaan told journalists from across the world at a breakfast briefing in Johannesburg.
He said Mandela wanted to be at the opening ceremony on Friday, when Bafana Bafana would play against Mexico. “Nelson Mandela is 92-years-old ... he himself wants to be there. Whether he stays five minutes or the whole match is really not our decision. As things stand now, there is a very, very great chance that, in fact, he'll be there because he wants to be there...
“How long he will stay, that is really his decision. But we'll just be happy if he shows his face,” said Jordaan.
