The South African FA has confirmed a payment of $10M was "made by South Africa to a body led by the allegedly corrupt" former FIFA VP Jack Warner, according to Tom Brooks-Pollock of the London INDEPENDENT. Newly elected SAFA President Danny Jordaan said that CONCACAF was "paid the money by the hosts of the 2010 World Cup two years before the tournament." Jordaan said that the payment, made in '08, was "not a bribe to secure the 2010 tournament for the 'Rainbow Nation.'" Jordaan said that, rather, it was "made as a contribution" toward CONCACAF's football development fund. BBC sources reportedly confirmed that the payment was indeed "made to support football development in Africa." The indictment refers to a $10M payment that was made in '08 to "support the African diaspora" -- but Jordaan said that the payment "was not the bribe referred to in the indictment." Jordaan: "I haven't paid a bribe or taken a bribe from anybody in my life. We don't know who is mentioned there [in the indictment]. And I don’t want to assume that I am mentioned" (INDEPENDENT, 6/1). The AAP reported a South African football official on Sunday admitted the country had paid out $10M in '08 but "denied it was a bribe to FIFA to host the 2010 World Cup." Jordaan: "How could we have paid a bribe for votes four years after we had won the bid?" A U.S. indictment said that in '08, "bundles of cash in a briefcase were allegedly handed over at a Paris hotel as a bribe by a 'high-ranking South African bid committee official.'" The cash was allegedly later delivered to Warner, who was then also president of CONCACAF. Thabo Mbeki, who was president when South Africa won the bid in '04, becoming the first African country to host the World Cup, also "denied that a bribe was paid by his government." In a statement, Mbeki said, "I am not aware of anybody who solicited a bribe from the government for the purpose of our country being awarded the right to host the World Cup" (AAP, 6/1).
TARNISHED LEGACY: In London, England & Moore reported when a frail Nelson Mandela was "wheeled out in a golf buggy at a packed Johannesburg stadium" for the closing ceremony of the 2010 World Cup, the "roar from the crowd marked the culmination of what was deemed an overwhelming success" for South Africa. But now the corruption scandal engulfing FIFA "threatens to tarnish the legacy as South Africa has been thrust into the centre of a storm" over whether its football authorities paid a $10M bribe in its bid to host the tournament. A central element of the FBI investigation into corruption at FIFA is what the U.S. indictment "describes as '2010 Fifa World Cup Vote Scheme.'" South African Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula has denied any bribes were paid, "describing the allegations as 'an attack on our sovereignty.'" Mbalula: "We reject these falsehoods with the contempt they deserve" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 6/1).
