Organisers dismiss worries over 2010 World Cup

South Africa is on track to host a successful 2010 World Cup, local organisers said yesterday, dismissing concerns that their efforts had been undermined by infighting, cost overruns and a power crisis.

"This World Cup can never fail," Irvin Khoza, chairman of the 2010 local organising committee (LOC), said in Johannesburg after FIFA officials had toured stadiums to be used at the finals.

"We'll go hand in hand to make sure this World Cup is a success," said Khoza, who urged the public not to become despondent over reports that preparations had hit serious roadblocks.

High levels of violent crime and fears that construction of the 10 World Cup stadiums would not be completed within the allocated budget or in time for the June 11, 2010 kick-off had cast a cloud over the country.

The mood darkened in the past month in the wake of rolling nationwide power cuts that have left millions of people without electricity and forced industry, including large mines, to shut down or restrict power consumption.