Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Why is Fifa exposing only Safa?
There are others to be named and other countries to be shamed
purpose, well then South Africa has nothing to do with it.
The evidence Fifa has presented to US authorities, together with the fact the main culprits, Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer, have already admitted guilt and even a close perusal of former SA Football Association (Safa) chief executive Leslie Sedibe’s statement this week, certainly doesn’t back up Mbalula’s naive contention. In short, with everything that has already been publicly revealed about the $10m, any reasonable mind can deduce something fishy was afoot.
Warner is a former Fifa executive committee member, Fifa vice president and president of Concacaf. According to Fifa: “Warner and his co-conspirators lied about the nature of the payment, disguising it as support for the benefit of the ‘African Diaspora’ in the Caribbean region, when in reality it was a bribe. They disguised and funnelled the bribe money through the financial accounts of Fifa, member associations, and the 2010 Fifa World Cup local organising committee.”
So, assuming it was indeed a bribe, I have a bit of sympathy for Safa. Remember, at the time South Africa was dealing with an organisation in which bribery and corruption were expected. It was par for the course – if you didn’t play along, well, then forget about hosting the World Cup. It was simply a case of when in Rome...
While this is definitely no excuse, especially in light of the current state of denial, essentially Safa was playing the hand it was dealt. It was competing according to the rules of the game (you want to host, show us the money). And the point here is not to lose sight of the fact Fifa is, ultimately, the scoundrel, the vil- lain of the piece. The organisation, tasked with the administration of world football, betrayed our trust and used the sport as a means to satisfy officials’ rampant avarice. Now that it has been caught out, its image severely tarnished, and the skeletons tumbling out of the cupboard, Fifa wants to play victim.
That South Africa has been fingered is good, but wouldn’t it be fantastic to see so many of the others brought to book as well? The World Cup hosts’ bidding process has always been under scrutiny as suspect and riddled with all manner of shenanigans. Already Fifa has admitted France 1998 and South Africa 2010 were bought, while Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 remain mired in controversy.
New Fifa president Gianni Infantino faces a huge task to repair the battered perception of an organisation many believed operated like the Mafia under former boss, the disgraced Sepp Blatter.
Since the purge commenced last May, US authorities have arrested a number of Fifa officials and there have been regular incidents of financial skulduggery – all of which have plunged the organisation into scandal after scandal. (The latest being that former Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke, already banned from football for 12 years for ethics violations, is now also facing criminal charges in Switzerland.)
With Fifa’s murky past and even murkier present, it’s very easy to be sceptical about its motives. So, because of this, isn’t there just a sneaking suspicion South Africa has been made the scapegoat? With the awarding of other World Cups also tainted, why is it that only 2010 has been thoroughly investigated and found to be bought? With Infantino on a mission to clean house and restore the trust of the public – and reassure the world that brand Fifa is on its way back – he needs to make an example of something… and, unfortunately South Africa is it.
It’s going to be interesting to see whether Fifa will reveal details of other flawed World Cup bid processes. Will other names be named and other countries shamed?
Nevertheless, the path has been embarked upon, which is why it appears a few Safa officials can’t be sleeping too easily. Fifa’s suspension this week of Sedibe, as well as ex-referees Steve Goddard and Adeel Carelse with regard to the match-fixing of a few friendlies ahead of the 2010 tournament, has plunged Safa into a morass of anxiety. Sedibe has since come out guns blazing. He knows things, it would seem… And, while he is obviously not guiltless, he makes some startling revelations in his official statement.
For example: “Safa demanded that I destroy this correspondence and any document in my possession gained during my tenure as the CEO of Safa. Now I find it strange that an organisation such as Safa would, in the middle of a Fifa investigation, knowing the importance of those documents, nonetheless insist that I destroy all of those material documents.”
And: “In the meantime, Fifa has itself been plagued by one corruption scandal after another, including allegations of bribery involving $ 10m relating to South Africa’s bid to host the 2010 Fifa World Cup. These allegations came as no surprise to me, but I reserve my comments on this for the appropriate time and forum, should the need arise.”
Wading through Sedibe’s statement, it’s clear there’s still a lot to uncover.
No doubt, there are a few officials meandering down the Safa corridors with worried brows.