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Rory Riordan, the head of the finance portfolio at the Nelson Mandela Bay metro, has defended his boss Danny Jordaan against an onslaught by his political nemesis Athol Trollip.
Trollip, who is the DA’s mayoral candidate in the hotly contested metro and leader of the opposition party in the province, penned a letter last week in which he challenged Jordaan – who is also the president of the South African Football Association – to set the record straight on an alleged $10 million bribe in exchange for votes to secure the right to host the Football World Cup.
The tournament, the first on African soil, was hosted by South Africa in 2010.
Riordan, who is budget and treasury portfolio chairperson at the metro, said Trollip’s statement that Fifa had confirmed that the “deal” signed off by Jordaan was a bribe, was false.
Riordan has written his own, open letter in reply to Trollip. He said: “There are three clear untruths in this nonsense. As has been widely published, [Sports] Minister [Fikile] Mbalula has requested that he remain the person to respond because ‘the matter is on the government’s plate’ ... He stated that no South African has been named in any investigations.
“Fifa has not alleged that a bribe was paid ... Fifa clarified that the allegations formed part of the US department of justice’s original indictments, and were not being made by Fifa itself.”
Trollip alleged that Jordaan had facilitated a deal that saw the transfer of funds to Jack Warner.
Riordan wrote that the money was transferred from Fifa in Zurich to its affiliate Concacaf.
“It was approved by the Fifa finance committee ... the South African government had absolutely no doubt that the 2010 World Cup should benefit many African countries, and also the African Diaspora, a Zone 6 of the Africa Union, where many Africans ended up as slaves. Fifa created a 2010 legacy fund to respect this.”
He said the money was made available for an African Legacy Programme, which was set up by the government with full agreement from Fifa.
Trollip said he didn’t have much comment on Riordan’s letter.
“I don’t really have a response to what Mr Riordan is saying. But once again its somebody else answering and not Danny Jordaan.
“We have now taken note of the fact that Minister Fikile Mbalula said he would take [Safa official] Molefi Oliphant and Danny Jordaan with him to Zurich to answer the questions about the so called Fifa transaction, so we will wait and see when that happens,” Trollip said.
