2010 WC 'prime target for crime'

2008-03-15 10:26

Johannesburg - South Africa's 2010 World Cup soccer tournament was a prime target for corruption, editors were told in Johannesburg on Friday.

"There was a real fear that South Africa, in the staging of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, could look bad in the eyes of the world because of the dangers of corruption," said Professor Danny Titus, chairperson of the SA branch of Transparency International.

He was addressing a Gauteng meeting of the SA National Editors Forum.

"There is no national picture of what tender fraud looks like in South Africa...what the amounts are and the type of tenders involved, " he said.

The media and its investigative reporting function would be critical over the next two years in casting "sunlight" on the process leading up to the world's biggest sports spectacle.

Corruption in Africa 'cost $150bn'

Titus described corruption as "seen as the norm...the way to do business" in South Africa.

"There is no sense of being watched over. There is a real fear we will look bad and lose credibility in the eyes of the world because of 2010 corruption."

Transparency International and its South Africa branch was looking to the 2010 organisers to set up a partnership for vigilance against corruption.

It was estimated that corruption in Africa cost about $150bn. This created barriers to democracy, held back development, affected the poor, and increased the cost of goods by about 20%.

Titus recounted a recent incident linked to a tender for 2010, involving stadium seats.

A company, which had received praise for its diligent tender processes and was about to be granted the job, was told by an official about to sign: "I need something to move my pen."

The amount allegedly required to move the pen was R2m. The company walked away from the deal.

Titus said South Africa was "relatively young in this business," in view of anti-corruption legalisation only having being passed in 2004.

This was the same status in terms of which African National Congress President Jacob Zuma was facing corruption charges, he said.

- SAPA