2010 LOC boss leaves no doubt where his commitment lies, writes Sheena
Adams
Under normal circumstances one would be hard-pressed to say that Danny
Jordaan has a naughty smile. But he does, and right now it's playing on
his lips because of designer Nkhensani Nkosi, the fashion-ista behind
innovative local label Stoned Cherrie.
Nkosi has immortalised his face - framed by a salt and pepper beard and
imposing eyebrows - on a turmeric yellow T-shirt, one of which is suspended
in a delightful, golden frame on the wall of his Sandton office.
"That was some award I received," Jordaan (54) says.|"I
don't know whether she made any money on that T-shirt. I haven't been
told anything about royalties. I think I should probably find out,"
laughs the chief executive of the World Cup Local Organising Committee.
It's a glimpse, albeit brief, of the lighter side of a man who, admittedly,
has gone greyer as his 10-year campaign to bring the World Cup to South
Africa has progressed.
Jordaan is the first to admit that while the hard work behind the country's
successful bid has brought him much joy, it has also affected his family
life considerably. His wife and two children live in Port Elizabeth, while
he is forced to spend most of his time in Johannesburg.
"There was an imbalance in terms of the time spent working and having
time for myself and my family. Just having a holiday wasn't possible,"
he says.
These days he has more time for relaxation. His favourite holiday destination
is Havana, Cuba, although you'll never find him at a bar sipping on mojitos
as he's a teetotaller who "can't afford to be drunk".
While the Cup has been secured, he says most of the work still lies ahead.
And a difficult aspect continues to be the constant defending of the country
and its ability to host a successful competition. It's something that
clearly irks him.
"Africa had been making attempts to get the Cup here without success
for 100 years, so one always understood that it would be a difficult challenge
to get it here.
"Now, two years after we got the Cup, we still find that argument
that we should not be the hosts. We had to deal with all these perceptions
that we were hopeless - many of them long established by the English of
the Africans and based on the historical, unequal relationship between
Europe and Africa that gave rise to these perceptions.
"So it was always a goal worth pursuing - not only for our country
but for our continent, too," Jordaan says.
He also brushes aside the argument that South Africa's crime problem will
haunt the Cup in 2010.
"In football, at a national team level, there has been no history
of any crime problems in the past 14 years in our country. Crime is an
issue that we must address as South Africans, but it must be for the sake
of South Africans and not be used as a scare tactic for a future event,"
he says.
He adds that while working under these conditions makes his job that much
more challenging, it is a duty he loves dearly.
"I never think of how many days or months or years it has been because
it was always something we had to achieve - just like it was during the
struggle." It's a poignant point, and Jordaan makes similar parallels
repeatedly.
He speaks with clear emotion about being a 6-year-old boy, peering out
of the front window of his family's North End, Port Elizabeth, home at|a
waiting bulldozer.
"Seeing that bulldozer waiting outside your house and then seeing
your school flattened because it's in the wrong area cannot be a sharper
message of injustice. "You can't but develop a social and political
conscience," he says.
The Group Areas Act twice forced the relocation of his family until they
settled in Bethelsdorp.
A burgeoning political conscience resulted in Jordaan, at the age of 21,
joining the South African Students' Organisation in 1972. Memberships
of the SA Black Intervarsity Council and the United Democratic Front soon
followed.
He graduated with a BA honours degree from Unisa and began lecturing at
the Dower Teacher Training College in Port Elizabeth in 1974. He|was a
talented and active provincial cricket and soccer player until 1983.
The South African Football Association was officially formed in 1991 out
of four historically divided organisations, and South Africa was accepted
back into Fifa the following year, 15 years after its expulsion in 1976.
Jordaan was elected vice- president of Safa in 1991, a position he held
until 1997, when he was made chief executive.
He went to parliament as an ANC MP in 1994, leaving in 1997 on the completion
of the country's new constitution.
"There was a mass exodus of MPs at the time. I think that parliament
was overloaded with people. I left when others like Cyril (Ramaphosa)
and Saki (Macozoma) left," he recalls.
The new Safa executive travelled to the United States for the 1994 soccer
World Cup and came back with a strong determination to see the Cup on
African soil.
"When we came back, people like Stix Morewa and Molefi Oliphant started
pushing for us to look at hosting the World Cup. The executive then took
a decision to pursue the idea. It has been a 10-year journey and just
incredible how long we have had to travel.
"One is very fortunate because, first of all, in the 70s and 80s
we were engaged in a struggle for our nation and we all knew that one
day we would be free. So in that pursuit of a greater goal, we couldn't
give up. After 1994, in a sense, the World Cup became another struggle,"
Jordaan says.
As he speaks, his two phones ring incessantly. First, it's Transport Minister
Jeff Radebe calling about logistical arrangements for their trip to Zurich
for the Fifa World Player of the Year award.
Tokyo Sexwale is next, and Jordaan jokes heartily with him about Sexwale
becoming the country's next president.
He says that while it is true he can be considered "part bulldog
and part teddy bear", he loves a good laugh and fights "only
as a last resort".
"But when fighting is necessary, you must be prepared to engage with
it, particularly if it's about a matter of principle. You need to always
stand your ground about what you believe is right and wrong."
In a document he prepared on the road to the World Cup, Jordaan writes
that hosting the Cup will restore a great degree of "dignity through
collective effort" to South Africans.
He firmly believes there is a potential quid pro quo arrangement where
South Africa can give the World Cup a missing sense of humanity, and the
soccer competition can give the country further impetus for growth and
development.
"It is the people of the country and the spirit and atmosphere they
bring that will be special in 2010," he says.
Jordaan is optimistic about the potential of the national team, Bafana
Bafana, who automatically qualify for the 2010 competition, to do the
country proud. But he says people shouldn't hold their breath for a victory.
First, the under-23s need to qualify for the Beijing Olympics and Bafana
Bafana need to qualify for the African Cup of Nations.
He says football, for him, is about the celebration of life.
"It's also about the celebration of who we are. That's why it's not
strange to see people going to the stadium with their Bible, dressed as
a priest, or dressed as a mineworker. They take who they want to express,
and who they are, with them into the stadium," he says.
And although he'll no doubt be wearing one of his designer suits come
2010, the little boy who grew up crazy about soccer will, no doubt, also
be peering from the grandstands.
, December 19, 2006.
Russian ladies dream about happy marriage.
Click on a photo...
