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PREPARING SOUTH AFRICA FOR THE WORLD |
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently appointed Wilfried Lemke as his new Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, with the aim of further reaching out to the world of sport and more systematically and coherently encouraging the use of sport as a means to promote development and peace. Lemke has over 25 years of professional experience in both sport and politics. From 1999 to 2008, he served as Senator of the Interior and Sport as well as Senator for Education and Science of the State of Bremen, Germany. Lemke was manager for 18 years of SV Werder Bremen, one of the top football clubs in Europe. He will be visiting South Africa next week. Project 2010 asked him...  The recent outbreak of xenophobic violence has cast a shadow over South Africa's 2010 World Cup preparations. FIFA has expressed its concern about the situation, but says it is confident that the situation will stabilise ahead of the tournament. From an international perspective, how serious is this problem and do you think FIFA may be forced to reconsider its decision to host this event in South Africa for the fist time? Following the xenophobic violence of last month, the South African government reported that 56 people had been killed, more than 650 injured and at least 70,000 displaced. Of course this problem is serious. I am deeply concerned and saddened by what happened. However, it would be a great mistake to put South Africa under pressure already now regarding the organisation of the World Cup in 2010. I am confident that the situation will improve and that hosting this major sports event will truly help the country in the long run. Obviously, every host of every mega sporting event - including Germany (2006 World Cup) and China (2008 Olympics) - has its own problems and issues to deal with. Are South Africa's problems particularly unique? Each country has its own problems, which are linked to its history, culture, and social and political background. Many problems in South Africa are not unique in the sense that they derive from the global scourge of poverty, against which we must fight tirelessly. We know what these problems are. Therefore we need to combine traditional and innovative tools to solve them. In my view, sport belongs to the second category. This is why I believe that the 2010 World Cup, the first one to be held in Africa, is a great opportunity for positive social change, not only for the country but for the entire continent. Do you think an event of this magnitude has the power to heal some of the rifts and cracks in society? Yes, I do. I would not be Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace if the case were otherwise. Sport builds bridges between people; it brings them together. Sport is a means to foster tolerance and peace, to facilitate communication among people. Let me give you an example: when the football Iraqi team, made of Sunni and Shia Muslims as well as Kurds, won the Asian Cup last year, the divided country found itself temporarily united behind the team. Of course, I am perfectly aware that sport cannot resolve everything. But it is surely a powerful instrument to promote health, education, development and peace. Overall, how do you view South Africa's preparations for the tournament? I will be travelling to South Africa next week where I will address the 'International Youth Crime Prevention and Cities Summit' organized in Durban by UN-Habitat, the UN agency for human settlements. I will seize this opportunity to visit sport for development projects in South Africa and to meet with the organisers of the World Cup. I look forward to hearing what they tell me and seeing what they show me with regard to their preparations for the World Cup. What I can already tell you is that much is being done by FIFA, in collaboration with its partners, to foster development through social initiatives such as the 'Win in Africa with Africa' or the 'Football for Hope - 20 Centres for 2010' programmes. I met last month with President Sepp Blatter and we agreed on strengthened collaboration between FIFA and the UN to ensure that the World Cup is held in a positive atmosphere and leaves a lasting legacy in South Africa and beyond. more interviews...
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