Tshabalala's Forest move is back on as Parker considers a move to Kaiser Chiefs... oh, and Booth's not happy

Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala’s move to Nottingham Forest in England’s Championship could be back on – but the Amakhozi are discussing a deal with Dutch-based South African striker Bernard Parker.

Tshabalala, scorer of that sensational opening World Cup goal against Mexico for Bafana Bafana a year ago, has seen Forest’s interest revived by the arrival of former England boss Steve McClaren last month.

He replaced Billy Davies, the former Trent Bridge boss who decided against signing the dreadlocked dynamo last season. Tshabalala’s business manager Jazzman Mahlakgane told the Sowetan newspaper: "I can confirm that there are people who want Shabba to join their club in Europe in the new season but we are still awaiting an official letter to that effect from them.

"Shabba belongs to Chiefs, so they will have to engage the club as the employer. We are not under pressure because we know that we will get something good abroad.

"He is a great player, an international brand after scoring the goal in the 1-1 draw against Mexico.

"I think it's a matter of time before Shabba grabs his bags and goes abroad. I must admit that the support we have been getting from Chiefs has been incredible."

Chiefs general manager Bobby Motaung is quoted as saying, very generously: “There is no offer for Shabba at the moment, but let me make it clear Chiefs are always happy to release our players to go abroad if the offer is good."

Better news for Chiefs fans is that Parker, sent on loan to Greek strugglers Panserraikos by Dutch club FC Twente last season, could be lured to the gold-and-black if the Amakhosi’s top scorer Knowledge Musona’s move to Germany’s Hoffenheim is completed.

Though Parker is on a high weekly wage in the Netherlands, he is considered surplus to requirements and a return to South Africa is on the cards, as I said on eTV's Sunrise programme in South Africa this morning.

Zimbabwean Musona, 21, leaves for Germany later this week with agent Mike Makaab telling the BBC: "Knowledge is still in South Africa, but we expect him to leave at the end of the week or early next week at the latest.

"Though Celtic in Scotland have also shown an interest, Hoffenheim are in pole position and it will be interesting to see what happens over the next week or so. He's going for a physical assessment and medicals so we just hope that all goes well."

Motaung confirmed: "We've negotiated the offer club to club so now it's more about the player and what he wants."

Parker trained with SAPL clubs Wits and AmaZulu after his Greek tragedy last season - Panserraikos were relegated – and though his agent continues to search for overseas interest, Chiefs would be the perfect platform to keep Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane aware of his goal-scoring talents.

Meanwhile South Africa’s stalwart centre-half Matthew “Booooooth” Booth is unhappy with his treatment at Mamelodi Sundowns. With new manager Johan Neeskens taking over, Booth has been effectively dumped at the HM Pitje Stadium, and when invited to the club’s prize-giving, he said on Facebook: “Wow! Talk about a kick in the balls and a slap in the face...Sundowns has just sent me an invite to their awards evening!!!..haha...u gotta laugh!”

Booth slammed the club again on Robert Marawa’s Discovery Sports Centre on www.metrofm.co.za on Wednesday night, insisting Sundowns were wrong to “let him go”.

England 14,000 beds short in Rustenburg: Exclusive!

IT'S all gone mad in sunny South Africa today. Unbeknown to me, while I was swanning around in the pool in Centurion yesterday, the national radio station 702 had picked up on my story about the World Cup draw being fixed (see early blogs and youtube video, search for thenealcol).

Turns out the presenter, David O'Sullivan, a year younger than me when we attended the world-leading journalism course at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, had seen my stuff about the World Cup draw being fixed.

It got the whole nation talking and another old university pal, the World Cup communications director Rich Mdkhondo, was wheeled out to defend the draw. I've just spoken to him on the phone. We've agreed to disagree!

He's a cracking fellow Rich. I've said if he ever needs a positive British voice on the World Cup 2010, just call me.

But then the same radio station asked me to go on tonight at 5.40pm (you can listen live online, just go to www.702.co.za) and sent me a leaked interview with the tourism minister, Marthinus van Schalkwyk (above). He reassured everyone two days ago about accommodation during the World Cup... but his official quotes appear to suggest otherwise.

This is the story I sent to the Evening Standard in London:

SOUTH AFRICA have admitted they have a huge shortfall of 14,000 beds in Rustenburg - and similar problems in several other World Cup towns.

England, who have been planning to prepare for the World Cup at Rustenburg's Bafokeng Sports Palace for over a year, will be shocked to learn that nothing has been done about the lack of accommodation in the unfashionable town in the North West province.

Many felt the World Cup draw had been fixed when England, already booked in to their facility, were put in Group C - with their first game against the United States in Rustenburg on June 12.

England got the draw they wanted with the town affectionately known as "Rusty" far enough away to keep the fans out of trouble but happily housed.

But when minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk was asked how the Rainbow Nationw ould cope with the expected 450,000 visitors to his country for Africa's first World Cup kicking-off on June 11, he appeared to be short on answers.

He said: "In terms of the audited database for Rustenburg, there are 134 establishments, translating to 3,489 room and 6,978 beds. We anticipate a shortfall of 14,200 beds."

And the bad news doesn't end there. He added: "Polokwane has 149 establishments, which translate to 2,794 rooms and 5,588 beds. We anticipate a shortfall of 17,000 beds.

"Bloemfontein has 225 establishments, translating to 2,677 room and 5,354 beds. We anticipate a shortfall of 14,100 beds."

And his solution? "To address this, we have extended the definition of host cities to include surrounding areas which can be accessible within an hour, Rustenburg is not far from Gauteng, and Bloemfontein is not far from Kimberley and Polokwane is also not far from Gauteng, Nelspruit and Zimbabwe. We have therefore integrated surrounding areas to accommodate the shortfall and will ensure that there is enough transport to accommodate the fans and visitors."

What the minister neglected to mention is that Rustenburg is a good hour, about 60 miles, from Sandton outside Johannesburg and Centurion south of Pretoria, the two main tourism hubs in Gauteng.

The N4 motorway - a toll road - is in good shape, but getting on to it from Sandton or Centurion is by no means straightforward. Anybody staying in central Johannesburg will be facing at least a 90-minute trip to watch England train in Rustenburg in early June.

Van Schalwyk added: "We anticipate that there will be three million visitors, a third of which will be international visitors. People will not be flying in to attend one game but will come from different games depending on which teams advance to the next round. So the expected 450 000 is not for one game but for the entire event."

Locals are hoping "ungraded" establishments and rented houses will help, but the Minister is clearly worried: "A room that is ungraded is a room that has not been quality assured by the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa. It is difficult to say how it will look like because it has not been checked by the authorities.

"Such an establishment is however authorised to work as a business because quality assurance in South Africa is not mandatory. We however encourage fans to use graded establishments since they would know what to expect from graded establishments."

The web portal for booking accommodation will open by February.

Phew! Hope they don't get too angry about that here. And anyway, my dad's got a guesthouse in Centurion, so the tourists will be flocking to Chez Collins! Off to watch PSL leaders SuperSport United play bottom side Jomo Cosmos tomorrow. It's at Loftus Versfeld, the rugby stadium which doubles as a World Cup venue. Should be interesting. I'll take pictures and tell you more tomorrow...