South Africa's Democratic Alliance opposition party said that football officials are "being deliberately shielded from scrutiny over FIFA-related bribery allegations" surrounding the country's successful 2010 World Cup bid, according to Gerald Imray of the AP. The DA also said that Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula "failed to attend a parliamentary committee meeting on Tuesday when he was supposed to answer questions on the allegations." Following Mbalula's no-show, the DA said that there were "deliberate attempts" by the ruling African National Congress to "delay accountability on this issue" and protect some of South Africa's most senior football officials. South Africa's government has denied bribing FIFA officials to vote for the country to be awarded the 2010 World Cup. The U.S. Department of Justice said in indictment papers alleging widespread and long-running corruption in FIFA that South Africa gave $10M to corrupt FIFA execs in '08 "as payback for them backing it" in the '04 vote. South Africa said that it was a "legitimate payment" to former FIFA ExCo member Jack Warner for the sport's development in his country. In the days after the allegations against South Africa emerged, officials connected to the bid "were ordered by the government to refrain from speaking publicly about the allegations" (AP, 6/25).
