Safa president Danny Jordaan was chief executive of the tournament's local organising committee.
The Democratic Alliance’s bid to summon newly appointed Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Danny Jordaan and former South African Football Association President Molefi Oliphant to Parliament to answer for the Fifa 2010 World Cup bribery allegations has failed.
ANC Members of Parliament cited the subjudice rule due to the arrest of some involved in the United States and the fact that the local organising committee was disbanded long ago as some of the reasons for the refusal for the motion.
The sports committee then agreed to call Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula as Safa accounted to him.
This after reports that Jordaan asked Fifa to pay the $10-million that United States prosecutors allege was a bribe after he had “a discussion” with AU chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time.
The Mail & Guardian last week reported that Safa boss Jordaan put the request to Fifa secretary general Jérôme Valcke in a letter in 2007.
The motion to call Jordaan and Oliphant to account to the sports committee was tabled by DA MP Solly Malatsi, and backed by the United Democratic Movement as well as the National Freedom Party, asking the committee to put the issue on the agenda.
With Malatsi pushing for the motion, committee chairperson Beauty Dlulane said there was no need to vote as “this is a meeting of leaders, the majority view is saying let’s call the minister”.
After the meeting, Malatsi said it was important that South Africans heard the truth from the mouths of the officials.
“Surely these individuals are best placed to shed light on the bribery allegations? Yet ANC members of the committee are adamant in denying them an opportunity to brief Parliament.
“While the DA welcomes the chance to seek answers from the minister, the individuals implicated in authorising the payment from Fifa to Concacaf are in a far better place to provide the answers the South African public are seeking. The insistence of ANC members of the committee that they cannot call Mr Jordaan, Mr Oliphant and others because of the sub judice rule is laughable,” he said. With June 23 as the suggested date, the committee will approach Mbalula to check his availability.