National
DA makes PAIA application to get Safa-Warner papers─── 06:05 Fri, 12 Jun 2015
Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance has submitted an application under the Promotion of Access to Information Act to force the South African Football Association to release all documents relating to the decision to pay US $10 million to Caribbean football confederation.
“We are seeking all documents relating to the decision to pay $10 million to Jack Warner of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF),” DA sports spokesman Solly Malatsi said on Thursday.
“Safa president Danny Jordaan and former president Molefi Oliphant, have so far failed to provide the nation with credible information refuting the bribery allegations.”
Malatsi accused Parliament’s portfolio committee on sport of shielding Jordaan, also the new mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay metro, on Tuesday when the opposition sought clarity on the allegations that have drawn South Africa into the ongoing Fifa scandal.
“It is unfortunate that we need to submit a PAIA for these documents following the ANC’s shielding of Jordaan from accounting to Parliament. It is clear that those intimately involved in the bid process and subsequent payment are not willing to be open and honest. ”
Malatsi said it was unfathomable that the South African government could authorise the payment of US $10 million without demanding supporting documentation on how the money was spent.
“What government or organisation would authorise the payment of $10 million without documentation or regular reporting on how the funds were spent?”
Sport Minister Fikile Mbalula and Safa have maintained that the payment made in 2008 was a legitimate agreement and attested to the South African government’s efforts to support the African diaspora as part of then president Thabo Mbeki’s African Renaissance project,
But US investigators who have indicted top Fifa officials, including the world football body’s former vice-president Warner, suspect it was a bribe paid to buy South Africa enough votes to secure the hosting rights to the 2010 tournament.
Malatsi said his application also requested all correspondence between Safa and National Treasury relating to the payment, as well documentation between the presidency, the local organising committee and the department of sport.
ANA
