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Fifa scandal caught SA by surprise

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Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Michael Masutha.
Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Michael Masutha.
Linda Mthombeni

The Fifa scandal took the government completely by surprise.

Justice Minister Michael Masutha revealed that the United States had not communicated with South Africa before the Fifa scandal broke in May, even though there is a direct link with South Africa.

“Of course it was a bit unfortunate with this one that the indictment was published and put online when there were references to South Africa without prior consultation with us in accordance with the mutual courtesies that we afford each other by virtue of the mutual legal assistance arrangements that we have,” he said in an interview.

An indictment by the US’s Federal Bureau of Investigations placed South Africa at the centre of the drama that hit the football body, with allegations that the South African government paid a $10 million bribe in exchange for support to host the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The government strongly denied the allegations, saying it was a donation to the African Diaspora Legacy Fund. However, the country’s reputation was damaged and there are still questions about the details of the controversial payment.

No South African has been arrested.

Tom Wheeler, an independent commentator and former diplomat, said he would have expected the US to warn the South African government in advance seeing as South Africa and the 2010 bid was in the centre of the scandal.

Wheeler said it would have been common courtesy to do so. There were no hard and fast rules about this, but the least they could do was to inform us in advance, he said.

Brooks Spector, an American political analyst in South Africa, said he did not think the United States was compelled to warn the government because no South African was mentioned by name in the indictment.

There are two high-ranking South Africans, referred to as co-conspirator #15 and co-conspirator #16, but their identity has not been revealed.

“This was not a diplomatic incident, it was a straight criminal matter,” said Spector.

“This was a criminal matter and the indictments handed down were indictments of a criminal matter. South Africans were not named. The crimes were crimes that took place in the US.”

Cynthia Harvey, spokesperson for the US embassy in South Africa, did not clarify whether there were any talks with the South African government before the indictment was made public.

She reiterated that no South African was named in the indictment, but said she could not comment any further as the FBI was still investigating the matter.
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