Waving the multi-coloured South African flags, clapping and singing, South Africans were immediately swept up in euphoria at events organised in downtown Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and in the black township of Soweto.

In Soweto, Tebogo Sihlandu wore a South African football jersey and was wrapped in a South African flag as he watched the announcement from the FIFA football federation broadcast from Zurich on a big screen set up in a local stadium.

"This is the best feeling in the world. I've been so nervous before but now I can relax -- the World Cup is in the bag," said Sihlandu, 26.

"This is the best day of my life," said Phindile Nxumala, 27, also from Soweto.

"We can only thank Nelson Mandela for making this possible for us."

Although frail at 85, Mandela traveled to Zurich to make the final pitch for South Africa to win the right to host the 2010 tournament, saying there would be no "better present" for the country as it celebrates ten years since the end of apartheid. In Johannesburg, drivers honked their horns, sidewalk vendors showed the V-for-victory sign with their fingers, and traffic was momentarily jammed after the announcement.

The World Cup 2010 will be the biggest international event ever organised in South Africa and a multi-billion dollar injection into its economy.

Coming after the disappointment of losing out to Germany by a single vote in the controversial race for the 2006 finals, the victory of the 2010 bid was sweet.

This time around, South Africa faced fierce competition this time from Morocco, which proposed a 'risk-free' tournament backed by France and Spain.

Apart from the financial spin-off, the nod from FIFA also meant that South Africa's acceptance on the world stage had come full circle.

As the result of its racist policies, introduced by the white nationalist government that came to power in 1948, South Africa by the seventies had become a pariah state, including in sports.

In Pretoria, President Thabo Mbeki smiled broadly as he appeared before a crowd and declared: "It's time now that we go out and celebrate."

Mbeki said that the 2010 World Cup in South Africa would be an "African Cup" that would be welcoming to all.

"When we say this is an African cup, that includes all the other countries and also those who competed against us -- Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt -- we want to see them as partners and participants in the World Cup," said Mbeki speaking to a crowd of jubilant South Africans in Pretoria.

"Other Africans in the Caribbean, United States and Brazil -- We want them also to feel part of the African Cup," the South African president said. "For this, South Africa will be a home for all Africa," he said.