SOUTH Africa and Durban will never be the same again after the hosting of arguably the best World Cup yet. That seems to be the consensus of a lot of people - both local and international commentators - on the World Cup and what has been achieved in the country.

Lee-Anne Bac, a director at Grant Thornton Strategic Solutions, an auditing services firm, put it succinctly in an interview with BBC World.

"There has been a reputational boost for South Africa that can help bring in investment and visitors... South Africa has been rebranding as a tourist destination and as one based around the development of a global sports event business model," she said.

For Durban, which has a vision and now calls itself "Africa Sports Capital" (initially "Africa's Sports and Events Capital") that cannot be truer. While the rest of South Africa and the world is only now waking up to Durban's potential to even host the Olympic Games one day, locally the city has been talking about it and planning behind the scenes for years.

It is not coincidental that in 2008 Durban won the hosting rights for the influential 123rd International Olympics Committee Congress, which will take place next year. It was definitely strategic as Durban has been talking about a "beyond 2010" events strategy for half a decade

July 14, 2010 Edition 1 The Mercuruy
Suren Naidoo