Johannesburg – South Africans needed to give themselves some credit for their successes, ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa on Monday.

"In my view, we, as South Africans, have a habit of walking past our successes, of almost being afraid to recognise that in many areas of our daily lives and national persona, we are, in fact doing extremely well across the globe," he said.

"We should emigrate from this introverted way of looking at ourselves as not worthy to compete with the very best, or of even outshining the very best," Phosa told the Professional Management Review at a breakfast forum, according to a copy of his speech.

He said the soccer World Cup created a "massive marketing platform for South Africa as a commercial and tourism destination".

Phosa said this was the third World Cup South Africa had hosted, referring to the rugby and cricket tournaments hosted in 1995 and 2003 respectively.

"We have in fact, become irritated by our success. We moan and groan when we have to wait because of a lane closure on the highway, or when we have to walk an extra 50m at an airport that is being improved and revamped."

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