Six years ago, when South Africa won the right to host the 2010 World Cup finals, Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg was transformed into a giant outdoor party arena.

South Africans of every age, sex, race and colour wept openly as their country was confirmed as the first African nation ever to host a World Cup or Olympic Games, the twin pinnacles of global sport.

Six years on, and the bunting is back. Flags and banners have sprung up throughout the Rainbow Nation to celebrate a tournament that begins tomorrow, when the host nation takes on Mexico in Johannesburg’s redeveloped Soccer City.

But for every voice proclaiming the merits of an African World Cup finals, there is another questioning the ethics of spending billions of dollars on sport when half of all South Africans live in UN-proclaimed poverty.

Is it immoral to put football ahead of food or full employment?

As the chief executive of the 2010 organising committee, Danny Jordaan has long been the most evangelical voice promoting this summer’s tournament.

He has remained steadfast in his enthusiasm for the project, and is convinced it will ultimately improve the life of each and every South African.

“I think this is going to be the best World Cup we’ve ever seen,” said Jordaan earlier this week. “The world is about to discover the real South Africa, and I think they will be surprised.”

In Jordaan’s eyes, there are two types of benefit to hosting the World Cup.

The first are tangible practical improvements that will be apparent to English supporters visiting South Africa.

Infrastructural improvements, which involved the construction of six brand new stadia, provided much-needed employment opportunities at a time of worldwide recession.

Transport networks have been radically overhauled, with South Africa now boasting a number of world-class airports as well as the Gautrain, Africa’s first high-speed rail system.

And the tourism industry, previously well developed in areas such as Cape Town and Port Elizabeth but rather more rudimentary in other regions, has been prioritised in a way that should have lasting effects in the future.

However, it is in two less tangible areas that Jordaan feels South Africa will benefit most from its World Cup experience.

The eyes of the world will be trained on the nation for the next four weeks, and the hope is that they will see a country far removed from some of the negative stereotypes that continue to dominate outside impressions.

Initial forecasts of up to a million overseas supporters have been downgraded to a more realistic 250,000, but with a guaranteed global audience of billions, there is still an opportunity for the finals to be a public relations exercise that transforms South Africa’s image for years to come.

Just as importantly, the World Cup also offers a chance to alter the way in which South African society looks at itself.

In 1995, the Rugby World Cup brought blacks and whites together in a post-Apartheid party that proved a pivotal moment in the creation of a multi-race state.

Today, that state remains deeply split along racial lines, and the hope is that South Africa’s white and coloured population will spend the next month embracing football, a sport that has historically been viewed as the preserve of the nation’s black citizens.

“We’re seeing something we’ve never seen before,” said Jordaan. “Black and white South Africans driving with the national flag hanging out their windows.

“This is what we hoped for. Once the colour of your skin determined your dream but our players prove that the dreams of every boy and girl can no longer be contained by skin colour or geographic location.”

Might they, though, be determined by money? South Africa, especially in its rural areas, remains a largely undeveloped society and the potential benefits of a World Cup must therefore be balanced against the level of financial investment that has been necessary to turn the finals into a reality.

Latest estimates suggest the South African government has committed around $5bn to this month’s tournament, an astronomical sum for a country that continues to lack top-class schools, hospitals, universities and social housing.

While FIFA, world football’s governing body, has already banked $3.2bn (£2.2bn) in media and marketing revenues, the financial benefits for South Africa and its people are unlikely to be as lucrative, with the balance sheet at the end of the tournament set to show a significant loss.

To make matters worse, match tickets are unaffordable to a majority of working-class South Africans.

It is wrong to make generalisations of a society as complex and fractured as South Africa’s but, with the opening game of the finals now just 24 hours away, it appears as though the country is split.

It knows there have been costs and sacrifices in order to host the World Cup but it cannot wait to embrace a tournament that has been six long years in the waiting.

“We always anticipated the day (Nelson) Mandela would walk out of prison,” said Jordaan. “We always anticipated the day we would vote the first time. And now we anticipate the start of the World Cup.

“When these things happen the joy is overwhelming. It will be a huge day for me and so many South Africans. It will be a moment to cherish but, also, a moment to remember our past.”