The South African Parliament is lagging behind in its responsibilities to South Africa hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup, official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Friday.
In his regular internet column, SA Today, he said two Bills — the first and second 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa Special Measures Bills — were meant to have been passed by the end of last year.
When Parliament did not do so, Fifa gave South Africa until the end of June this year. It then extended the deadline to July 31.
However, Parliament went into recess on Friday. It will not reconvene until August 14 in plenary session. If the Fifa deadline is to be met, Parliament will have to hold a special session, ”which seems unlikely”.
Furthermore, while the first Bill needs only be passed by the National Assembly, the second Bill needs to be passed by the National Council of Provinces as well.
Therefore, he argued, Parliament could be well into September before it meets its commitments to Fifa.
Various MPs have, correctly, expressed the firm opinion that Parliament should not be expected simply to ”rubber-stamp” Fifa’s demands. But, Leon pointed out: ”The organisers, meanwhile, are frustrated at what they see as the legislative obstinacy.
”But the real problem, for which blame must be shared all around, is that we are only dealing with the issue now, more than two years after South Africa won the right to host.”
Leon said some commentators have pointed out that South Africa is lagging behind in its planning to build new stadiums. ”We have to have them ready before the Confederations Cup in 2009, and Fifa wants them to be ready by June 2008 — only two years from now.”
Construction has not yet begun, and there is a lack of clarity about how many new soccer arenas South Africa need to build and where they will be located.
In March, the Cabinet said two new stadiums were planned, but, last month, Danny Jordaan, head of the organising committee, told the World Economic Forum in Cape Town that five new stadiums were in the works.
”We need to act now. And we need clear leadership, clear goals, clear budgets and clear timetables,” Leon said.
He added: ”The sooner we get started, the sooner we can tackle an even more difficult task: making sure that Bafana Bafana are ready to face the world’s toughest competition.” — I-Net Bridge