President Thabo Mbeki is confident South Africa will meet all its obligations for the 2010 soccer World Cup, and knows that it can count on Germany for support and advice.
With Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel basking in the glow of Germany's successful hosting of the 2006 World Cup and Mbeki exhilarated at the prospect of South Africa hosting it in 2010, the two leaders faced the media on Saturday, not allowing their World Cup euphoria to be dampened by corruption allegations.
German prosecutors are investigating recent unsubstantiated reports that top-ranking South African politicians received kickbacks from German companies relating to the arms deal, so they might have expected their World Cup bonhomie to be quickly interrupted by some tough questions.
The first question directed at Merkel was three-fold, asking whether the two leaders had discussed United Nations reform, the corruption allegations and whether Mbeki had invited Merkel to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.
Mbeki sat unmoved, but Merkel's face immediately lit up, suggesting she had expected the question.
She said they had not time to discuss UN reform and that she was sure she would visit South Africa before 2010.
Merkel entirely ignored the corruption question.
The German chancellor said the pair had discussed various topics, but that they had mainly discussed how Germany would assist South Africa in preparing for 2010.
A reporter said the World Cup was not only a big festival but also an "enormous financial burden", and asked how South Africa would cope.
Mbeki responded: "Once the executive committee of Fifa decided that South Africa would host the tournament, we engaged with Fifa in a detailed discussion about the benchmarks Fifa expects of the host country. That included financial guarantees. We've done all the sums and calculations and we're quite certain we will be able to meet those obligations."
