6 July 2000
Fellow South Africans:
It is with deep disappointment that I have learnt of the failure of our bid to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup Soccer Finals in South African.
Allow me, nevertheless, to congratulate the winning nation, Germany for their success. The bidding process was a hard fought and often bruising one. Nevertheless, we respect the decision of the adjudicators and will support Germany in every way that we can to ensure that World Cup 2006 is a success.
The South African 2006 World Cup Bid Committee and the South African Football Association have made us proud as a nation. Your efforts cannot be faulted. I am sure that the experience of bidding was an empowering one that stands us in good stead to pursue similar efforts in future.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to our Bid Committee, and in particular to Danny Jordaan and Irvin Khoza, for the personal sacrifices that they have made on behalf of our country and the African Continent. We acknowledge your patriotism, zeal and hard work.
Of course, the disappointment we are experiencing today is a setback to our efforts at gaining the recognition Africa deserves in the international sporting community.
We were confident that our bid was sound in all respects but a few of the final arbiters, from their unique vantage point, clearly had their own view, different from ours.
I would like to thank most sincerely the many Football Associations across the world and the members of the FIFA Executive who supported us.
In this regard, I would like to mention specifically Mr Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA and Mr Issa Hayatou, President of the African Football Confederation who worked very hard to ensure that the Finals of the Soccer World Cup come to Africa for the very first time.
It is a tragic day for Africa that their message and ours did not succeed to convince the majority on the FIFA Executive that Africa's time has come.
I believe there will be other opportunities in the future for us to host major sporting events. Let us continue to learn from the events that we are hosting in order to equip ourselves more adequately for other opportunities that will arise.
Once more our best wishes to the winning nation.
I thank you.