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PREPARING SOUTH AFRICA FOR THE WORLD |
Veteran journalist Rich Mkhondo has recently been appointed to the position of 2010 Local Organising Committee Chief Communications Officer. He joined the committee from Ogilvy Public Relations where he was Managing Director. Project 2010 asked him...  You have been in the hot seat for just a few days - what have you identified as the key challenges for your department? I've hit the ground running. The challenge is to get on and communicate with South Africa about what we are doing. People need to know how we are doing with our preparations and all the key issues like stadiums, security and ticketing. Despite the fact that South Africa's preparations for both tournament seems to be well on track, there is still a fair amount of negative publicity towards the 2010 hosts - particularly from the foreign media. What can be done to counter this? We have a plan which is to continually highlight our state of readiness and many people acknowledge this. We received a complimentary letter from FIFA two days ago saying how impressed they were with the organisation of the draw for the Confederations Cup. The fact of the matter is we are six months ahead of where we should be in terms of our state of readiness - we are six months more prepared than Germany was at this stage of the game in terms of stadiums and infrastructure. The negative issues have always been crime, accommodation and transport but these are all being addressed. There will be 41 000 police unleashed for 2010. We have a point-to-point security plan (for visitors) from the airport to their hotels to the stadiums and 41 000 police will enforce it. The other negative issue is whether the economic crisis overseas will impact on the number of visitors, but we believe soccer lovers will turn up. How damaging is the so-called 'meltdown' in Zimbabwe to South Africa in terms of its preparations for 2010? We have not had any link between 2010 and Zimbabwe and we believe it will be unfair to link to what is happening there. Only if it blows up… but I believe it will be resolved way, way before that. We seem to be going through a subdued phase in terms of public enthusiasm for the 2010 World Cup. When do you think we will see the hype around this event transforming the psyche of the nation, like it did in Germany (2006) and Japan/South Korea (2002)? I don't believe the country is subdued. I believe we are slowly but surely marketing what we are doing. When the teams come here for the (2009) Confederations Cup, we believe that's when the momentum will start building. Then we have the Final Draw six months later - six months before the World Cup. That's when the whole of South Africa and the continent and the rest of the world will be consumed by 2010. more interviews...
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