PRETORIA - While a sad South Africa was still shaking its head over losing the 2006 World Cup bid by the narrowest of margins, former president Nelson Mandela told a gathering of national leaders that no one was to blame.
"We lost. No one is toblame. The finishing touches just weren't there. Our inexperience showed," Mandela said.
He told the 200-strong gathering - which included President Thabo Mbeki, his deputy Jacob Zuma, a number of cabinet ministers, diplomats and top government officials - that South Africa should rejoice instead of feeling regret.
Mandela used the country's one-vote loss to Germany as an example of just how far Africa had progressed.
"One vote between what Fifa president Sepp Blatter called a move to innovation, or going back to the traditional, was what kept South Africa from becoming the first-ever African country to host this event."
Mbeki said South Africa's "excellent showing" in the voting, which saw fellow Africans Morocco go out in the first round and England in the second, had shown the "country and the continent were now players in world terms."
Both he and the former president congratulated Germany on its selection.
The president said he and others were well aware of Germany's capability and capacity - "they will do it well."
But the final word on the narrow loss rested with Mandela: "Our bid-team chaps did an excellent job, and there are few who would criticise European nations for being selfish and callous. After all, they have had many opportunities to host events of this stature.
"We were given an equal chance and we lost. We just did not have the finishing touches."
