The LOC said it will start recruiting volunteers across the country in 2008 with a view to providing them with comprehensive training, according to Southafrica.info.
The LOC plans to recruit ordinary people and experts in various fields to serve as volunteers. The experts will include medical practitioners, translators, people from the legal fraternity, and information technology experts.

There are also plans to recruit disabled people into the process.

The Umsobomvu Youth Fund is in negotiations with the LOC to put 15 000 young people into volunteer programmes.

In Cape Town, an important pilot project has just been launched. As part of the city's tourism visitor services strategy, 14 people have been selected from a database of potential visitor ambassadors.

They have been screened and are undergoing extensive orientation and training in both security and visitor services.

It is envisioned that the programme will become a sustainable and permanent part of the city's visitor services platform and 2010 readiness project.

Over the next few months, the spotlight will fall on ordinary South Africans who want to play a role in ensuring that the 2010 World Cup will be the world-class event that LOC Chief Executive Danny Jordaan has promised it will be.

Previous world cup tournaments have demonstrated that volunteer programmes play a vital role in securing the buy-in of the public and ensuring the successful hosting of an event of this magnitude. It will be no different in 2010.

The first group of volunteers were thrown in at the deep-end for November's 2010 Preliminary Draw in Durban and they passed with flying colours.

Volunteer and sport fanatic Ayesha Omar, 22, told BuaNews at the time that she decided to be a volunteer because she wanted to play her part in making the event a success.

Ms Omar said that moral and enthusiasm among the volunteer support staff was high and that there was a great feeling of national pride.

"We as volunteers realise how important it is to get the country behind such an event to ensure South Africa hosts a successful world cup.”

Ms Omar, who is completing her masters in political philosophy at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, believes playing against Nigeria will serve as good training for Bafana Bafana, adding that they will be a tough competitor.

"The success of the event was by and large due to the countless unnamed, unheard proud citizens of South Africa," she said at the time. - BuaNews