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The official opening of the Mpumalanga Provincial House of Traditional Leaders and 2010 Integrated Office will jointly serve as a central point of co-ordination for all world cup programmes.

"The official opening of these offices represents an expression of our continued commitment to supporting the work on the institution of traditional leadership in the province so that it plays its rightful role in development and service delivery improvement," said Mpumalanga Premier Thabang Makwetla at the weekend.

Addressing delegates at the launch of the offices in Nelspruit on Saturday, Premier Makwetla said the integrated offices highlighted strengthening of an institutional platform and space for effective co-ordination in the implementation of the 2010 World Cup Programmes in Mpumalanga.

"Today's official launch and opening of offices bears testimony to government's support towards enabling the house of traditional leaders to have the necessary infrastructure required to pursue the mandate and programmes of the house," he added.

Over the years, the Mpumalanga Provincial Government has been working with the traditional leadership whose support for the programmes has enabled government to advance development while expanding service delivery in areas under the jurisdiction of traditional leadership.

"Part of this support we are providing is ensuring that the institution of traditional leadership has the necessary infrastructure and capacity to discharge its responsibilities," the premier said.

The Mpumalanga 2010 integrated office will have to undertake the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the FIFA guarantees which are central to the preparations for the world cup.

"This integrated work hub will further accommodate under one roof some of the key members of the FIFA Local Organising Committee while contributing to greater improvement of efforts and resources for build-up events and the staging of the 2010 event itself," said Premier Makwetla.

On Monday President Thabo Mbeki assured that next year's general elections and the subsequent change in leadership would not prevent South Africa from delivering the best 2010 FIFA World Cup yet.

The President was speaking during a press briefing with FIFA President Sepp Blatter at the Presidential Guesthouse on Sunday.

He said while there would be elections next year which would usher in a new leadership, government institutions and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) were all committed to making the 2010 FIFA World Cup a very successful tournament.

"I have assured President Blatter that the government, institutions and the LOC are all very committed to ensure that this is a very successful tournament," said President Mbeki.

FIFA, together with the LOC, have agreed that President Blatter will meet Jacob Zuma, leader of the African National Congress. "They will be discussing the same questions that President Blatter and I discussed today," he said on Sunday.

"It doesn't matter what happens here with regard to the political challenges, this country will meet its commitments to FIFA," said Mr Mbeki.

(Source: Allafrica.com)