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Danny Jordaan on establishing a new South African brand through World Cup football
It must be incredibly nerve-wracking to be Danny Jordaan. For years, he has worked in some capacity or another, trying to make South Africa a centrepiece in the world of sport. After two stalled attempts – for Cape Town to host the 2004 Olympics and the bid for the 2006 World Cup – any other person would have let it go. But not Danny Jordaan.
Over the years, his dogged pursuit of bringing the world to South Africa finally made headway when, on 15 May 2004, South Africa was declared the 19th host of the Fifa Soccer World Cup event and the first African country ever.
For Jordaan, the hosting of the event represents the culmination of his life’s labour. Leadership spoke to him about where it all began and why he so relentlessly chased after it.
Looking back at your younger days, growing up in Port Elizabeth, did you ever think you would be so actively involved in the Freedom Struggle and later, find a place in high level sports administration?
I think that like any youngster, I just wanted to do what youngsters do. For me, it was to play sport. I played football, cricket and rugby.
But in the context of the impositions and the constraints placed on one by apartheid, very soon one begins to understand that one could [never imagine] hosting a World Cup or being an administrator at a national and international level, unless and until one has dealt with the challenges imposed by the apartheid regime.
So what was it that politicised you?
I think it was a slow process. I think the first thing that triggered it was the Group Areas Act. We lived in an area that was declared White and we moved, and then we were moved again and then the last time, my father refused to leave and so we were evicted.
They placed our furniture and belongings on a truck and bulldozers came to flatten the house. We were standing there outside watching this, and I think that as a youngster growing up, it was just a difficult moment to see: what for everyone is the most secure space in your life – your home, your house – to be flattened by bulldozers.
Then they flattened our school because the school and our house and everything else was in the ‘wrong area’.
I think that generated a strong sense of injustice, when seeing your parents almost in a state of hopelessness and despair as they stand there and drop a tear as the things that they worked so hard for, are just being demolished.
Secondly, at university, that was at the time when we had the formation of SASO – the South African Students Organisation – with Steve Biko, Barney Pityana and so on.
We were all in the football club, and the club probably became the most militant, most active student organisation.
Our lecturers used to say when they stood in their offices and saw students walking with a soccer ball into the gate in the morning, then they knew: “Oh, they’re not coming to class. They struggled this morning.” (laughs).
It’s strange that the most radical students on the campus at the time were all in the football soccer club.
In an odd way, that actually demonstrates the unifying spirit of sport. All you really wanted to do, was play this game, but to do it, you needed to overcome apartheid.
Yes, but also I think the only international federation that had taken a strong stand against apartheid was Fifa.
It first banned and then expelled South Africa [from international competition] and placed two conditions for South Africa’s return:
(1) That apartheid had to cease in terms of law and policy. We must bring an end to apartheid and;
(2) that we must have a single, non-racial football structure.
So besides the general struggle, there was a specific struggle in sport. So I was engaged also in the struggle in the sporting arena.
So there is a clear history, from your perspective, of sport having much to do with the dismantling of apartheid?
Yes, I think I was fortunate that I was there while we were working for the isolation of South African sport.
We also worked for the unification of sport because we understood at the time that if we had a non-racial, democratic and non-sexist Constitution, it would not be automatic that you would have a non-racial, non-sexist society. You have to deal with all the major sides in society and build non-racialism and non-sexism, so we focused on sport.
But also, I was a member of SADTU, the teachers’ union. Wherever there was a struggle to achieve the end of a non-racial and democratic, non-sexist South Africa, we would engage and support initiatives in that space.
Let us fast forward to more recent times. You were a part of Cape Town’s failed Olympic bid and our earlier attempt to host the World Cup. Why did you think it was so important that we host an event of this magnitude?
I think there are a number of reasons for that.
When we were in Parliament in 1994, we soon realised that there were other responsibilities [outside of politics] that we had to tackle, so many of the people then left Parliament to go into the economy and into various other areas where we felt we needed to drive the agenda of transformation.
From a sports perspective: in 1994 I went to the World Cup in the United States and I said, “This is something that we should pursue because the World Cup will help us to establish a new South African brand.”
The brand of South Africa for many, many years has been apartheid, and this was a very, very strong brand. Wherever you went before 1990, if you said, “I’m from South Africa”, they would say, “Oh, apartheid”.
After 1990, they would say, “Oh, you’re from South Africa”, “Oh, Nelson Mandela”, but beyond mentioning the name of Nelson Mandela, we did not have a particular brand essence. What else could they say about the country?
Now, the hosting of major events deals with four issues, I think.
Firstly, building a new image and a new brand for the country.
Secondly, building national consensus, nation building and social inclusion.
Thirdly, it helps to build infrastructure so that when we look at South Africa before and after 2010, we will come to the conclusion that the infrastructure after 2010 in South Africa will be significantly better than any time before. You can start with the airports, the Gautrain, the roads, the buses – they’re going to bring about a thousand new buses. So general infrastructure is much better.
Fourthly, it’s about tourism, an increase in tourism. We will have 400 television crews in South Africa for 31 days and they will cover not only the matches, but many of the other stories on the continent. Stories that will show Africa is a continent of opportunities for foreign direct investment, for trade, and generally for business – a continent that takes seriously [the issues of] human rights and democracy and a continent that wants to see progress.
And the World Cup, or any major event, gives us that opportunity. We’re seeing the transformation in Germany before and after 2006.
Remember that Germany was a divided nation in 1990. The Berlin Wall came down, but in essence, the German people were still divided between East Germans and West Germans.
After 2006, they were all just Germans.
So the real legacy of 2010 will be that we start looking at ourselves as South Africans and, possibly, as Africans
in general?
Yes, I think that we must see ourselves as South Africans and secondly, must see ourselves as part of the African continent.
I’m very happy that now South African businesses are beginning to make the investment and to engage in business opportunities in other African countries. You see the tremendous growth – just look at the mobile industry and the broadcast industry, as well as the retail industry.
When our winning bid was announced, were you surprised or relieved?
It was a difficult moment because remember, we were there before in 2000 for the 2006 World Cup bid and then we were sitting in the same hole again.
In my heart, I was convinced that we had done everything possible and that we should win on the day, but also, there were moments of doubt, the “what ifs”.
I will always remember that Nelson Mandela was there: it was a great moment to see him in 1990 walking out of prison, to be with him in 1994 in Parliament, and then to be with him again to see South Africa becoming the first African country, after a hundred years, to be awarded the rights to host the event – that was just a special moment.
After the announcement, did you have time to celebrate, to absorb the momentous occasion and say, “Okay, it’s actually coming to South Africa”, or were you immediately back to work the next day?
We came home and, of course, the country was still in a celebratory mood, but the celebrations didn’t last too long.
I think it was about a week and then we were back, putting things in place, finalising things, organising Association Agreement with Fifa, setting up the structures for the organising committee, registering the company, trying to secure the budgets. We had to finalise the host cities, we had to identify sites for stadiums, we had to secure the budgets to build the stadiums.
The party couldn’t last too long (laughs), there was much work to be done.
With kickoff around the corner, is it becoming easier or harder to get things done?
Well, this project, I’ve said it before, is like a roller coaster ride. Sometimes you’re up and sometimes you’re down.
At the moment, we’re in a very good space. The teams are qualifying, all the teams that one could hope for have qualified or are still in a position to qualify. So it’s very clear that this event will have high quality teams to compete for the World Cup, and that’s important.
Secondly, we have some of the best stadiums in the world to deliver the event, and so the prospect of this being the best World Cup ever is real and it is wonderful to see South Africans beginning to understand and to grasp the reality that this country has the ability, has the potential to deliver the biggest event on earth – the Fifa World Cup.
What about the people who have been critical? Who moaned that we are wasting money which could be used for healthcare, education, electricity etc. Do they have valid points?
Two things: first of all, when you talk about a vision, it is something that you can see, and trying to explain that to others who cannot see it is difficult because it doesn’t exist. So when you explain and talk about the World Cup, it’s outside the experience and the realm of reality for many people. So you simply have to continue explaining.
The second thing is that South Africa is a developing country and this is a country also with tremendous social needs – whether it’s health, education, housing, hospitals, electricity, water and so on – and so it is understandable that some people would raise that.
But we are very happy that this event is not being hosted at the expense or at the cost of any other social priority of the country, and that – as many economists have pointed out – this country would’ve been worse off during the economic crisis if it had not been for the World Cup.
So the World Cup, I think, has already paid dividends to the country, but once the teams arrive and the people arrive and the fans arrive and they spend their money in our country (we are looking at about R30 billion), then I think people will say, “Yes, you know, it was a good thing”.
But also, it’s about developing national pride in South Africa, that we become patriots of our own country, that we talk in glowing and positive terms about our country and as the world will engage us and pay us compliments for the kind of infrastructure that we have managed to build up.
I think it is then that the tourists will come back, that the investors will come and look at our country and that our country will be the talking point – certainly, it is already a talking point all over the world.
In this week I will be going to the United Nations, speaking at a workshop of the economists in London. Because they want to know about South Africa. If it were not for the World Cup, I don’t think the world would have invited us. We would just be one of the
many countries.
But the World Cup gives us a place in the conferences of the world, the coffee tables, the dinner tables, the investment conferences – wherever people gather, they talk about the World Cup in South Africa.
When it is all over and done, will you miss it? What will you do once the tournament comes to an end?
I think the first priority is to develop and deliver the most successful World Cup ever. I would think after that, I will consider whether I want to continue my career in football and see what opportunities there are.
I have seen a magazine list me as the third most influential person in World Football and another listed me as number-seven most influential sports person in the world.
So clearly, the World Cup has given me an international profile, and I’ve worked since 1997 for Fifa in various roles on the marketing committee, for the Fifa World Cups of 1998, 2002 and 2006.
A good holiday is a good idea. And after that, to consider which direction I should take.
Have you ever given any thought to taking over from Sepp Blatter as president of Fifa?
Well, Mr Blatter is standing for election in 2011.
It means that he will serve until 2015.
We’ll see what football will look like in 2015.
That is not a “yes”, or a “no”...
(Laughs) That’s a question for the future.
Zaid Kriel
