Leading players in SA’s ‘$10m cup bid’
Molefi Oliphant was president of the South African Football Association in 2004 when South Africa won the bid to host the 2010 World Cup. By virtue of his position Oliphant was one of the senior officials in the local organising committee.
In 2011 President Jacob Zuma conferred the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold to Oliphant for his role in ensuring that South Africa won the bid.
Irvin Khoza served as the vice-president of Safa in 2004 and was the chairman of the Fifa World Cup organising committee. He also played a key role in securing the hosting of the 2010 World Cup. Like Oliphant, he was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold by Zuma in 2011.
Danny Jordaan is the current Safa president. He was the chief executive officer of South Africa’s bids to host both the 2006 and 2010 world cups. Jordaan and his South African team lost the 2006 bid to Germany. He too received the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold in 2011. Jordaan, Oliphant and Khoza were each given a R7.4- million bonus for their roles in bringing the World Cup to South Africa.
In 2004 businessman and former politician Tokyo
Sexwale was a board member of the local organising committee. According to a speech made by Khoza at the University of the Witwatersrand in July 2009, Sexwale played a crucial role in ensuring that former president Nelson Mandela travelled to Trinidad on April 29 2004. At the time, Khoza said, South Africa needed to secure the vote of the then Fifa vice-president and Concacaf president Jack Warner, who insisted that Mandela be brought to Trinidad.
But Mandela’s doctors said the state of the Nobel laureate’s health would not allow him to travel. However, Sexwale managed to get Mandela to fly to Trinidad — which marked a turning point in South Africa’s bid. A month later it successfully secured the right to host the World Cup.
Warner is one of the Fifa officials charged with corruption in the Fifa bribe scandal.