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DA: Safa, govt taken for a 2010 World Cup financial ride
According to worldsoccer.com, when Western Cape Democratic Alliance (DA) Minister Alan Winde complained on BBC Radio Five that sports officials and ANC governing politicians had allowed themselves to be taken for a financial ride over the 2010 World Cup tournament, both FIFA and the South African Football Association (Safa) rejected the accusation even though Safa's Robin Petersen did eventually concede that his organisation had been slow to seize the promotional opportunities presented by the tournament.
So far, only one of the five Football For Hope (FFH) SA centres promised by FIFA (who envisaged 20 such centres throughout Africa as a legacy to the youth of the continent from the 2010 World Cup) had been created in South Africa - in Cape Town's Khayelitsha Township, which remains the only such complex up and running in South Africa. The stadium remains a white elephant largely because, as many had feared, rugby has remained faithful to its traditional Newlands home.
As Western Cape's Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Alan Winde is well aware of the books. The stadium, he says, was costing £60,000-a-week to maintain and still lacked a long-term tenant. He added that the debt falls directly on the rate payers of the city. Worldsoccer.com says FIFA made a surplus of £1.5bn from the World Cup and, according to the BBC report, handed over £70m for legacy projects of which only £33m had been claimed thus far.
Read the full article on www.worldsoccer.com.
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