President Thabo Mbeki is set to tackle the South African Football Association (Safa) following Bafana Bafana's disastrous African Nations Cup campaign.
"I think we have to engage the people who run Safa, indeed the leadership has spoken about that," he said in an SABC interview on Sunday night in Pretoria.
He said this was especially important as he had been told by Fifa head Sepp Blatter last week that all eyes would soon be on South African football.
"From July 2006 all eyes are going to be on South Africa because the World Cup in Germany will be over, and on a daily basis all eyes will be on South Africa," he said.
South African football took a serious knock when it was kicked out of the African Cup of Nations last week with neither a goal nor a win.
A disappointed Mbeki rebuked the national squad after their performance, accusing them of a poor work ethic and not taking their national responsibility seriously.
He was so affected by their performance that it was even mentioned in his State of the Nation address at the opening of parliament on Friday.
"I am afraid our performance in the current African Cup of Nations in Egypt did nothing to advertise our strengths as a winning nation.
"However, starting today, the nation must make every effort to ensure we meet all the expectations of Fifa and the world of soccer, so we host the best Soccer World Cup ever," he said.
On Sunday night Mbeki said he was concerned that certain people were not giving their best, preferring instead to enter the soccer environment with a view to garnering business opportunities.
He demanded that preparations for the 2010 World Cup be attended to by people who had selfless dedication.
"Any selfish ideas - leave those at home," the president said.
He said a code of conduct was an option but the situation would require extreme vigilance, a duty he would entrust to ministers and deputy ministers sitting on the local organising committee.
The Bafana Bafana players were booed on their return from Egypt by a crowd gathered at Johannesburg International Airport. The squad had to be escorted by police.
Bafana Bafana's poor performance was keenly felt in parliament where an angry National Assembly sports committee chairperson, Butana Komphela, labelled it a "national disaster".
He said he wanted Safa to appear before his committee and give some assurances about the 2010 World Cup and the national squad.
"It can't be a matter we just sweep under the carpet. It must be a matter that we are saying: 'Can you explain to us how are you preparing to avoid what is happening in the African Cup of Nations?'"
Even before last week's defeat, parliamentarians raised concerns about what would happen if Bafana Bafana failed to perform in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, saying it would not only be humiliating but financially costly if they crashed out in the first round.
- boyd.webb@inl.co.za