At least some of Fifa’s largesse doing good

NEWSPAPERS are often accused of telling only the bad news. And news doesn’t come much worse than revelations that South Africa paid a $10-million bribe to score the 2010 World Cup from Fifa — an organisation that is starting to look like perhaps the most successful transnational criminal enterprise we’ve ever seen.

But it turns out that something good, at least, emerged from this mess.

This week, the Sunday Times visited a number of the Football for Hope centres scattered around the country. The result was impressive, and some consolation at least for a country punch-drunk from scandal after scandal of money misspent, misplaced or simply stolen.

Jack Warner might have used our $10-million to line his own pockets rather than benefit the African diaspora in the Caribbean, but at least in Khayelitsha, dozens of children were playing soccer on pitches built using Fifa money.

In QwaQwa, a group of grannies were kicking the ball around while waiting for their grandchildren, while in Alexandra, six-a-side games were taking place on the pitch. And this was at community centres that also, in some cases, provide clinic facilities, career advice and counselling.

These centres were built with just a fraction of the billions spent on the World Cup, but they are perhaps the most tangible contribution that Fifa has made to this country.

For Nkanyiso Miya, a 12-year-old from Mthethomusha Primary School, the Fifa scandal, as it unfolds on CNN, the BBC and newspapers across the world, means very little. Rather, he identifies Fifa as the organisation that helped build the centre where he spends his days.

Ultimately, however, this puts Fifa’s transgressions in proper focus.

Those bribes and the skulduggery were not just a fraud on the fiscus or a violation of money-laundering statutes, they were a betrayal of the faith of fans and children such as Nkanyiso across the world who love the game and what it can do to change lives.

This betrayal is made even worse by South Africa having indicated that it has no intention of claiming back the $10-million, which it insists was not a bribe.

Its having been proved to be a bribe does not appear to make any difference to Fikile Mbalula, our garrulous sports minister. Imagine, then, what a difference the extra $10-million would have made to South Africa.