FIFA Legacy Fund "Up and Running Within Days"... and Not Before Time

One year and two days after the gleaming World Cup closing ceremony at Soccer City, Danny Jordaan insists the promised $100m FIFA Legacy Fund is on the verge of materialising.

Jordaan, head of the South African organising committee, travelled to Zurich, Switzerland to conclude negotiations which will see the promised cash for “grass roots development” handed out to local communities.

Jordaan is believed to have finalised arrangements for the fund, which amounts to around R700m given current exchange rates.

So far just $25m of the promised fund has been spent – $20m on building the swanky SAFA headquarters near Soccer City which was completed before the tournament began and $5m on 50 buses already handed over to the regional SAFA branches.

On December 17, 2010, recently re-elected president Sepp Blatter said in Johannesburg: "FIFA are not a circus where we pitch our tent and remove them when the event is over. FIFA will leave a lasting legacy for the youth of South Africa.”

“We always said that the first World Cup on African soil should leave a lasting sports and social legacy. This trust is yet another concrete achievement in this area."

While the exchange rate has worked in his favour, Jordaan has been working for months to get the fund up and running, and he insists an eight-man board of trustees – two from FIFA, four from SAFA and two independent members – will be deciding on the fate of the fund “within days”.

Needy institutions – non-profit and charity organisations – will soon be invited to put their proposals to the trustees “for scrutiny and approval” along the lines of the lottery fund.

Jordaan, deputy president of SAFA, spent last Sunday near Bronkhorstspruit, north of Pretoria, opening a new pitch which was inaccurately described as having been paid for by the FIFA Legacy Fund in some areas.

The R6.3m ($900,000) project, which also features a clubhouse, has been completed in the rural community of Ekangala.

The development is just one of 52 artificial pitches promised as a World Cup legacy. Four have been completed so far - at Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, Upington in the Northern Cape, and in North West and the Eastern Cape. Two further projects “aiming to give marginalised communities access to quality” are “under construction”.

But those facilities are being paid for by a combination of funds from SAFA and the National Lottery Fund... not by FIFA’s promised Legacy Fund.

Speaking at Ekangala on Sunday, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said: "Before the World Cup we were doubted by everyone, but we managed to pull of one of the most successful and talked about tournaments in FIFA's history.

"We made a promise before the World Cup that we wanted the event to leave a legacy, and the beautiful pitch you see today is a result of all that.

"We cannot have the Radebes, the Pienaars, the Khunes and the Jalis without development, and the new pitch you see here and around the country speaks to that."

Jordaan chose the pragmatic approach. He said: "We want to urge the people here to own this and treat with the care it deserves. We don't want to come back here and see it vandalised, it's for football development, and that's what we want to see."

On a more congratulatory note, he added: "The World Cup was one of the most special moments in our country. The World Cup started when Mandela walked out of prison and ended when he was driven onto that pitch during the closing ceremony and waved to the crowd.

“The tournament saw black and white coming together and co-owning the country just like the non-racial South Africa Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo wanted.”

Looking ahead to the slightly-troubled 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he said: “We have established many benchmarks that the next host would have to achieve and surpass.”

Though Jordaan was understandably happy with the tournament he played such a major part in organising with FIFA’s Jerome Valcke, Jordaan will be only too aware of the problems the World Cup has left behind – and it amounts to more than unused stadia.

The 310,000 foreign visitors fell about one-third short of original expectations, and the $521m spent by fans was a long way short of the R33 billion ($4.8bn) the government spent on stadiums, infrastructure, a new airport in Durban, organisation and security.

Which might explain why he is so eager to get FIFA – who have so far reported record revenue of $631m in South Africa - to deliver on their Legacy Fund promise.

The Lost Legacy Fund: Fifa Still Owe South Africa R550m After Record World Cup

One year after the World Cup’s big kick-off at Soccer City, South Africans are still waiting for any sign of the £50million (R550million) promised by FIFA’s 2010 Legacy Programme.

While recently re-elected president Sepp Blatter glides serenely into a fourth term in charge boasting of FIFA’s record £1.24bn (R12billion) profit from a superb 2010 tournament in the Rainbow Nation, the money he promised as a legacy after Africa’s first World Cup – which FIFA said would benefit grass roots football as well as education, health and social projects – remains unpaid.

Fund spokesman Greg Fredericks confirmed: "None of the £50million has been spent - not one cent. The money is still in Zurich. The delay is simply down to the amount of time it takes to establish legally recognised bodies for handling this amount of money."

Blatter, 75, unveiled his much-hyped fund in December 2010, insisting: "We always said the first World Cup on African soil should leave a lasting legacy. We trusted South Africa and that trust was well founded.

“Fifa are not a circus where we pitch our tent and remove them when the event is over. Fifa will leave a lasting legacy for the youth of South Africa thanks to this successful World Cup.

"This fund is also a reward for South Africans for having been such great hosts. We always said that the first World Cup on African soil should leave a lasting sports and social legacy. This trust is yet another concrete achievement in this area."

Although the £60m fund, administered by accountants Ernst and Young, is reserved for a wide range of public benefit initiatives, Blatter confirmed that only £10m had been actually been used - to build the extravagant South Africa Football Association (SAFA) building next to the Soccer City, where Spain beat Holland to lift their first World Cup last July.

South African president, Jacob Zuma said at the time: "We wanted a World Cup that would contribute to social cohesion and national pride that would enhance African solidarity and improve the country's global reputation. Our expectations were exceeded.

"Now remains the difficult but most important task of ensuring a lasting legacy and to build world-class national teams both at youth and senior level. This legacy trust is an important contribution towards that goal."

With FIFA still reeling over bribery claims surrounding Blatter’s unopposed re-election and the decision to give Qatar the 2022 World Cup, Britain’s best selling tabloid The Sun quotes shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Ivan Lewis as saying: "This is another example of poor leadership. South Africa faces many challenges and FIFA should release the money as a matter of urgency."

Labour MP Michael Dugher added: "FIFA is a shameful shambles. It made a vast sum from South Africa and has a duty to plough that money back as soon as possible."

The High Court has to rubber-stamp the setting up of a trust to decide how to distribute the remaining cash. Best estimates predict a further five-month wait for any pay-out from the Legacy fund – while the cash remains in FIFA’s Swiss bank accounts gaining interest.

The Sun also quotes lawyer Richard Spoor - representing locals in Matsafeni, where the 41,000-seater Mbombela Stadium was built on land belonging to the local people – as saying: "Even now there's no adequate water supply and the living conditions are totally unsanitary.

"The roads are unpaved and there's no proper sewage system. The conditions are unhealthy and frankly quite deplorable."

Who on earth is Neal Collins (nealcol on Twitter)? See www.nealcollins.co.uk.

After Tiger Woods and John Terry... it's President Zuma! He's fathered his 20th child by the daughter of a World Cup organiser

AT last news to knock John Terry off the blog. Another astonishing pre-World Cup tale, another sorry sporting sex saga. After Tiger Woods and Vanessa Perroncel... it's South Africa's president Jacob Zuma joining the top scorers' list.
Turns out Zuma, 67, has fathered his 20th child with the daughter of World Cup chief and important local football official Irvin Khoza. There was a huge furore when Zuma married again a couple of months ago, taking his current tally to three wives (see picture, he's second from the right).

Now he may have to resort to publicist Max Clifford to get him out of another huge controversy, just as Perroncel has after her affair with Terry - her partner Wayne Bridge's former Chelsea team-mate - was revealed last Saturday.

Zuma said yesterday that having the child, born in October to the 39-year-old daughter of his long-time friend Khoza, was a private matter. He said: "The media is making money out of the matter, questioning the right of the child to exist. The matter is now between the two of us, and culturally, between the Zuma and Khoza families."

But Nokuzola Mndende, director of the Icamagu Institute which promotes African culture, said: "Polygamous marriage is like any other marriage, it doesn't allow extra marital affairs. If a man wants to take another wife he has to follow certain procedures.

"An extra-marital affair is beyond race, religion or culture. It's a weakness of men."

A survey last month by the TNS market research firm questioned 2,000 people in South African cities and found that 74 per cent feel that it is a problem for a man to have more than one wife at a time. Opposition parties have accused Zuma of compromising South Africa's Aids prevention efforts, which promote condom use and faithfulness to a single sexual partner.

Since Zuma took office in May, he has made repeated public statements about the need to fight the disease. But four years ago he admitted to having extra-marital sex without a condom, saying that he had showered to prevent infection.

On Wednesday he argued that it was "mischievous" to accuse him of undermining the Aids campaign, vowing again to "intensify our efforts to promote prevention, treatment, research and the fight against the stigma attached to the epidemic".

Quite where John Terry stands on all this - given that he helped Ms Perroncel abort their love child - is unknown. He's staying quiet as the Clifford/Perroncel duo finalise a £250,000 deal to reveal further details of their affair on Sunday morning, probably in the News of the World.

At that point, The Sun suggests, a fifth name could be added to the underwear model's list of Chelsea conquests which currently includes Bridge, Terry, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Adrian Mutu.

But this morning's Mirror accuses Terry of having a second affair with a team-mate's wife.

England boss Fabio Capello, a devout Catholic, flew back to London from his Swiss home this morning and refused to comment on the furore but his assistant and Under21 boss Stuart Pearce has gone public with his view that Terry should remain the nation's captain going into the World Cup.

The suggestion is his private life shouldn't enter in to it. Terry is our best captain. At least South Africa's elected leader will understand how he feels.