FIFA unveils S’Africa 2010 mascot

The official mascot for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa was unveiled in Johannesburg on Monday, with spectators getting their first glimpse of Zakumi the leopard.
Zakumi, who bounded out from behind the curtains at the Renaissance Studio, was greeted with cheers as he played kick-about with former Bafana Bafana and Charlton Athletic star Mark Fish.
The mascot, a yellow leopard with a green-ish afro and cuddly toy features, was introduced to the audience as a 14-year old boy, born on 16 June 1994 when the country officially became a democracy.
The name Zakumi, as explained by 2010 organising chairman Danny Jordaan, is taken from ZA for South Africa, and Kumi, which means 10 in many African languages and is the year of the tournament.
Jerome Valcke, secretary of FIFA, said: "Zakumi represents the people, geography and spirit of South Africa.
Zakumi - portrayed on television as a live puppet with someone inside - belongs to a generation known in South Africa as the `born frees`.
Born in 1994, the year of South Africa`s first democratic elections, Zakumi was conceived by local designers as a symbol of the teenage Rainbow Nation, warts (or spots) and all.
His birthday, June 16, falls on the anniversary of the Soweto Uprising, the day in 1976 when thousands of schoolchildren in the sprawling township outside Johannesburg took to the streets to protest repressive apartheid policies.
This big cat sports moss-green spiky hair, a white tee-shirt marked South Africa 2010 and green shorts. `Zakumi represents the people, geography and spirit of South Africa, personifying in essence the 2010 FIFA World Cup,` FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke said in a statement.
`He is young, energetic, smart and ambitious,` Danny Jordaan, chief executive of the FIFA 2010 local organising committee, said at the launch of the mascot on the set of a football programme on public broadcaster SABC.
As to why a leopard, Jordaan noted Africa`s other favourite predator, the lion, had already been used by Britain and Germany during the 1966 and 2006 World Cups respectively.
"We are certain we will have a lot of fun with him in the lead-up to and during the Fifa Confederations Cup and the World Cup."
Fifa first introduced Mascots in 1966 during the England World cup - a Union Jack-clad English Lion.
Others included the orange-shaped Naranjito in Spain in 1982, the 'ciao' stick-figure in Italian colours in 1990 and Footix, a French cockeral, in 1998.