Cape Town - Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has given the Local Organising Committee (LOC) the thumbs up for successfully hosting the FIFA Confederations Cup without major incidents.
Tabling his Budget Vote in Parliament on Wednesday, Mr Mthethwa said it would not be untrue to say, the "LOC exceeded all expectation".
"Let us take this opportunity to applaud the LOC on their successful hosting of the Confederations Cup," he said.
The minister also commended Bafana Bafana for being the first African country to reach the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup.
"I was equally captivated by their performance in the third and fourth place play-off match against Spain," he said.
Despite their performance, Bafana Bafana took the fourth position of the Confederation Cup after Spain beat them 3-2.
While security was considered as one of the critical concerns ahead of the eight nation's tournament, the event passed with no major security breach.
Mr Mthethwa's sentiments were also shared by FIFA President who told reporters that he was happy with the level of commitment shown by the organising committee and the government.
The world football governing body, FIFA, gave organisers 7.5 points out of ten for the Confederations Cup, saying it hoped the score will rise to 10 next year during the FIFA World Cup.
According to statistics released by FIFA, around 584 894 people turned up for the Confederations Cup, held in Johannesburg, Free State, Pretoria and Rustenburg.
The success of the Confederations Cup puts all doubt to rest and reconfirms the inevitable that, indeed, South Africa will deliver a successful 2010 FIFA World Cup, for the first time on African soil, in a period of less than a year from now.
Despite a few incidents, particularly in relation to the transport system and minor reported incidents of crime, government's overall impression of the tournament was that it was a "runaway success".
