The producers of the Soccer World Cup opening and closing ceremonies are hobbling through preparations as they wait, 55 days before the tournament’s kick-off, for a promised R80-million from the government and the City of Johannesburg.
The rehearsals for the opening ceremony at Soccer City, which will include a cast of more than 2 000 dancers and children who will form spectacular patterns and images on the field, have not yet been scheduled to start.
A frenzy of glitz and glamour is meant to open the tournament on June 11. But the Mail & Guardian has established that neither the department of arts and culture nor the City of Johannesburg has paid the local organising committee their R40-million share towards the total cost of R120-million that was budgeted for the event.
This revelation was contained in an affidavit submitted by committee chairperson Danny Jordaan in response to a court application by the M&G for access to information about tenders associated with the tournament. The affidavit was filed on April 9 this year.
The department has denied this and has told the M&G that its R40-million was transferred on March 30.
The city’s executive director for 2010, Sibongile Mazibuko, said the city would transfer the funds to the committee “once we have been invoiced for work done in respect of the ceremonies”.
Short of cash
The M&G understands from an informed source in the VWV Consortium, which is responsible for staging both the events, that “only one-third” of the promised total of R120-million has so far been given to the consortium.
“The event will definitely happen and it will be a spectacle,” the source said. “But not having more money available is certainly hampering us. Large suppliers require big deposits for equipment, supplies and components for the ceremonies. At the moment we can’t really do that.”
The source confirmed that rehearsals for the visual formations had not yet begun.
“It looks like rehearsals will start in the first week in May.”
The late start will give the producers of the opening ceremony a little over a month to get every aspect of the spectacle spot on. This is in stark contrast to preparation times for other high-profile international sports spectacles. The Chinese reportedly spent three years rehearsing the immaculately coordinated opening and closing ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
There are also plans to include a dramatic firework display lasting about one minute and costing about R5-million. But this will depend on a further review of the budget, the M&G source said.
The LOC was advised by its lawyers not to respond to our questions about the funding of the opening ceremony as the matter was “res judicata” [sic].
Meanwhile, it has emerged that the opening ceremony will include a performance by American R&B star R Kelly, who was acquitted on several charges, including having sex with a minor, in 2007.
Lebo M ‘not performing’
But local performer and producer Lebo M, who is the chief executive officer of Till Dawn Productions, which is part of the VWV Consortium, will “definitely not be performing” at the events, the M&G‘s source said.
“Lebo has been trying to get himself a spot at the show since the very beginning. He even did an uninvited storyboard presentation when Jack Morton [Worldwide, the international associate producers of the event] did their presentation to the department of arts and culture a few months ago …
“He’s been rapped over the knuckles by the department and told that he will not be singing [at the opening ceremony].”