SOUTH AFRICA’S poorest citizens may wind up worse off following the Fifa soccer world cup next month, according to a new report.
Player and Referee: Conflicting Interests and the 2010 Fifa World Cup, published by South Africa’s Institute of Security Studies, outlines how the 10 host municipalities are likely to see little financial return despite spending millions on venues as organisers put profit before the public interest.
“The building and future maintenance of stadia in various cities (Durban and Port Elizabeth in particular) are likely to impact on their respective municipalities’ capacity to prioritise pro-poor spending and deliver services and infrastructure. In addition, the longer-term financial viability of several stadia remains questionable.
“Anchor tenants have been difficult to secure in the Cape Town and Port Elizabeth stadia.”
The report also states the cost has spiralled out of control. Part of South Africa’s world cup bid to Fifa estimated it would cost the country $406 million (€305.7 million). However, to date about €1.7 billion has been spent by the government on building and upgrading stadiums alone.
Cape Town’s new stadium in Green Point was used as a case study by the report’s authors. They allege that former South African president Thabo Mbeki and Fifa president Sepp Blatter pushed for its construction despite the availability of two cheaper alternatives.
Cape Town stadium cost the taxpayer about €459 million to build, but it was estimated the two alternative stadiums in the suburbs of Newlands and Athlone could have been revamped for €190 million or €170 million respectively.
In addition, Newlands had initially been accepted by Fifa as Cape Town’s match venue, and city officials preferred the Athlone stadium as it was in an economically more depressed area, therefore had more developmental potential.
However, Green Point was chosen because Fifa, which makes most money from TV rights, wanted access to “state-of-the-art stadiums in the ‘best’ locations to draw the maximum number of visitors and viewers”.