Cosatu demands role in 2010

2006-02-16 16:32

Johannesburg - The Congress of SA Trade Unions has demanded to be included in the 2010 Soccer World Cup organising committee.

Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on Thursday gave the South African Football Association (Safa) two-weeks to meet its demand.

"Failure of Safa to do so will lead to an unprecedented confrontation between Safa and Cosatu.

"Cosatu will mobilise it's members to attend en masse all meetings of the local organising committee until such a time that they agree that labour is an important player and must be brought on board," Vavi told reporters in Johannesburg.

Vavi said Cosatu's exclusion from the 2010 organisation committee was "outrageous. There is no way Safa can ignore us".

The main reason Cosatu wanted a labour representative on the committee was because it wanted to ensure workers benefited from the World Cup.

Vavi told reporters in Johannesburg that Cosatu wanted the construction of stadiums and the creation of World Cup-related opportunities to be labour intensive.

Vavi said Safa's progress and creation of jobs in South Africa through the 2010 World Cup was slow.

The construction of stadiums was an avenue that could provide jobs for the unemployed, but Safa's delayed plans in beginning the construction minimised the potential.

"The potential for jobs in South Africa will decrease (if Safa does not start construction soon) as Safa will use machinery to meet construction deadlines.

"They need to start construction now, to give our people a chance."

Reverse employment opportunities

New regulations requiring vendors to get accreditation to sell food at stadiums would reverse employment opportunities as medium and big business would be recognised far quicker.

Vavi said Cosatu wanted to be involved in preparations because "we are getting rumours from affiliates that the committee may be reduced into a platform for business interests of serving members".

"(This) is going to bring our entire integrity as a nation into disrepute."

In addition, Cosatu was concerned about the price of tickets for the competition, saying some kind of saving scheme was necessary to allow the poor to attend matches.

The cup was a historic event for every South African, with immense potential to create jobs and improve lives, he said.

Safa was also criticised for South Africa's dismal performance at the recent Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.

Vavi said a reason for this was South Africa's foreign player quota, which needed to be "reduced drastically".

"Foreign players must be drastically reduced so that clubs are forced to work with Safa to develop and nurture local talent."

He said South African soccer was mismanaged and in a disastrous state.

"Soccer is a national sport in which workers invest their money and emotion.

"Cosatu can't fold its arms when those elected to manage it have a track record of making our country a laughing stock of Africa and the world."

Cosatu demanded that Safa publish a development plan to address the weaknesses in soccer and stop the decline in quality.

Local organising committee chief executive Danny Jordaan was not immediately available for comment.

- SAPA