We believe that by hosting the 2004 Olympic Games in Cape Town, together we will all win. This belief is backed up by research conducted by KPMG and NN Gobodo and Associates on behalf of the national government, and supplement research by the Development Bank of Southern Africa.

short term benefits
(1997 - 1997)

• Sport facilities that will benefit the disadvantaged communities of Cape Town
• Improvements to road, rail and other transport networks, leading to an increase in jobs in the construction industry.
• Increased tourism, leading to more jobs in the service industry
• In line with the bids economic empowerment policy, almost half the money spent by the Olympic Bid will go into black business.
• Impetus will be given to the creation of new sub-structures at Philippi East, Belhar and Mew Way (khayelitsha).

medium and long term benefits
(1998 - 2006)

• An additional R30 billion to the GDP by 2006, with a recurring impact of approximately R5 billion per annum (an increase of 0.9% to the GDP).
• A massive boost to the construction industry, particularly in the Western Cape.
• Training of approximately 2 500 technicians and 50 000 volunteers during the Games.
• New business opportunities.
• Improved sporting facilities, especially for disadvantaged areas.
• Sports development programmes that will assist communities with both sport and administration.
• The foundation for an efficient and effective public transport system.

long term benefits
(2004 and beyond)

• additional foreign and domestic investment
• boost to employment and provision of new jobs
• additional affordable housing for more than 20 000 Capetonians

Independent research suggest that in excess of 90 000 new and sustainable jobs will be created throughout Southern Africa from now until 2010. The recent study of the Games impact by the Development Bank of Southern Africa suggest the creation of 45 000 permanent jobs in the Western Cape between 1997 and 2006.

As South Africans we are proud of these successes, but they are still "pie in the sky". For most people, their lives have not changed. The privileged live in warm houses and have jobs, the millions of poor live in shacks close to starvation with no prospect of work. The task of building a bridge between this first and third world seems almost impossible. But it must be done if we are to survive as a democratic nation. The disadvantaged need training and jobs. Those who think they have everything need to rediscover their humanity, their compassion, their ubuntu, to become fully human. We all have gifts to share.

I am convinced that the bid for the 2004 Olympics is the catalyst we need to find each other. The organisers of the Bid have put forward a plan that will develop the environs of Cape Town for particular benefit of the disadvantaged. When the disadvantaged gain, all society benefits.

The 2004 Olympic Games proposal has enormous implications for Cape Town, South Africa as a whole and the rest of our continent. There are detractors who believe that hosting the Olympics will raise their rates and taxes. Let us not delude ourselves. There is no other prospective economic miracle that will stem South Africa's slide into poverty and despair. In such a scenario rates and taxes would invariably increase but would pay for fewer services. Unemployment would increase and so would social upheaval and crime.