South Africa Sport & Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula "kicked away calls for an inquiry" into allegations that South Africa paid $10M as a sweetener to secure the rights to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, according to Gaye Davis of EYEWITNESS NEWS. Answering questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Mbalula insisted that "the transfer to the Caribbean football body was in line with government policy and not a bribe." The minister suggested to Members of Parliament that "the allegations were an attempt to tarnish South Africa’s name." Mbalula: "Nothing was corrupt about this World Cup, and everything was above board" (EYEWITNESS NEWS, 8/20). BUSINESS DAY LIVE's Khulekani Magubane wrote when asked by Democratic Alliance MP Solly Malatsi which officials had decided on the payment, Mbalula said that "the money did not come from government coffers." Mbalula: "It came from the legacy fund of FIFA and was processed by FIFA. All that the South African government did was to say that Africa does not end with Africa but there is a fifth region, which is the African diaspora." When United Democratic Movement MP Mncedisi Filtane challenged him to institute an investigation into the payment, Mbalula said, "If this was a bribe, it’s a funny bribe, because why would you bribe a person (in the) aftermath? We won the World Cup (bid) in 2004 and we bribed in 2008. Why would we … do that?" (BUSINESS DAY LIVE, 8/20).
