South Africans deserve answers on alleged World Cup corruption 

1 June 2015

The DA will today be asking a series of Parliamentary questions to get clarity on the allegations of corruption surrounding the 2010 World Cup.

The revelations of alleged corruption do not discount South Africa’s achievement of hosting a very successful World Cup. However South Africans deserve to know if money changed hands improperly in our name.

The DA will ask:

Why $10 million was paid to the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) in 2008 by the Local Organising Committee (LOC)?

Which South African representative authorised the payment from FIFA to CONCACAF on behalf of South Africa?

With whom did this representative communicate at FIFA to authorise the payment?

Why was this money allocated to CONCACAF out of all the world football confederations, including the Confederation of African Football?

Yesterday, President of SAFA and part-time mayor of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan municipality, Danny Jordaan, confirmed that an amount of $10 million was indeed paid to CONCACAF, but claims that this money was to support their football development fund and was not a bribe (see Sunday Independent report).

We will also be submitting questions to get clarity on which members of the LOC made trips to Paris in 2004. This could establish the identity of the "high-ranking South African bid committee official" who handed over a briefcase full of cash to a family member of Jack Warner, at a Paris hotel as a bribe to secure his vote for South Africa to host the World Cup in 2010.

The 2010 World Cup is, and will remain, one of South Africa’s shining achievements but it is vitally important to interrogate if corruption was involved in this event.

South Africans should not have to wait for answers from the FBI when officials accountable to us should be telling us the truth.

Statement issued by Solly Malatsi MP, DA Shadow Minister of Sports and Recreation, June 1 2015