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The South African Football Association (Safa) has lost out on a cut of billions of rands being distributed to the victims of Fifa’s graft scandal — seemingly because the association denies it was swindled out of the $10m. The sour legacy of the $ 10 million the South African Football Association (Safa) allegedly paid to seal the awarding of the 2010 Fifa World Cup continues to haunt the association, its president Danny Jordaan and South African soccer at large, an amaBhungane investigation has found. It appears that Safa will not benefit from $ 201 million (almost R4-billion) in restitution awarded to Fifa by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) last year, even though the alleged $10-million “bribe” paid to ex-Caribbean football supremo Jack Warner was cited in Fifa’s claim. Warner was vice-president of Fifa and president of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) at the time of the payment. This development highlights Jordaan's role in facilitating the $10-million settlement to Warner during his tenure as CEO of the 2010 Fifa World Cup local organising committee (LOC) and in subsequent efforts to put an innocent face on the transaction.
It also shines a light on the Safa NEC’s potential failure to fulfil its fiduciary duties, which includes protecting the association’s financial interests. Fifa cited the $ 10 million paid to Warner among the funds it sought to recover in the petition it submitted to the DoJ along with Concacaf and the South American football governing body, Confederación Sudamericana de Ftbol (Conmebol). Former Safa chief executive Dennis Mumble wrote to Fifa on 22 June 2016, pledging Safa’s support of the restitution claim. Still, it is unclear if Safa followed this letter and presented their case as a victim. AmaBhungane’s deep dive into how the original $ 10 million was paid in January 2008 suggests that Safa was indeed a victim — a victim of Jorda. The evidence indicates that Danny Jordaan's central role, then and now, has hamstrung Safa's ability to claim its share, contributed to poisoning Jordaan's relationship with a string of Safa office-bearers, and compromised the imperative for the Safa NEC to hold him to account over the issue. Zakumi, the official mascot for the 2010 Fifa World Cup and Danny Jordaan, the CEO of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, attended the handover of the busses sponsored by Hyundai at Soccer City in Soweto, South Africa on 2 May 2010.
Safa and Jordaan, through their lawyers, regarded our inquiries (comprising 27 questions posed over 12 pages of context and evidence) as contributing to "false, reckless, baseless and erroneous reporting". Their lawyers, Fairbridges Wertheim Becker, wrote that the matter dates back to 2007 (15 years ago) and is therefore inanimate, having died a natural death. The South African government had spoken on the subject, and it was considered closed years ago
The letter accused amaBhungane of “bias”, and neither Safa nor Jordaan would be answering any of their questions. In February, Safa announced it had referred allegations, including those related to the diaspora legacy projects, to its ethics committee, chaired by retired Justice Sisi Khampepe. The US authorities’ prosecution has seen 27 individual defendants and four corporate entities plead guilty. Two Fifa heavyweights, Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay and Brazil’s Jose Maria Marin, were convicted of racketeering after a trial. The DoJ has the authority to distribute proceeds of the lost assets through a remission process to victims of the crime.
Various trials under the central Fifa docket are still underway, while the case against Warner, which implicates South Africa, is yet to begin. The latest indictment against Warner alleges that high-ranking officials of Fifa and the South African government indicated to the defendant Jack Warner that they were prepared to arrange for the government of South Africa to pay $10 million to secure votes for Warner. The alleged reward payment was made four years later, when a high-ranking Fifa official, Co-Conspirator #4, caused payments of $616 000, $1 600 000 and $7 784 000 — totalling $10 million — to be wired from a Fifa account in Switzerland to a Bank of America correspondent account for the credit to funds held in the names of CFU and CONCACAF, but controlled by the defendant Jack Warner. This payment was part of the African Diaspora Legacy Programme, which was the brainchild of former president Thabo Mbeki, who mentioned in speeches and the bid document that the 2010 Fifa World Cup should benefit not only South Africa but the rest of the continent and the African Diaspora. Various government officials and Safa have used this statement by Mbeki to justify why the $ 10 million was not a bribe. The most critical details in this text are that South Africa knew the need to get the three votes Concacaf controlled on the Fifa executive and pulled out all the stops to lobby Warner.
If there was a secret SA government commitment, as alleged in the US indictment, it might explain why Jordaan is so angry at being left holding the $10-million baby. However, there may have been another reason why the delayed payment became so urgent at the end of 2007. According to the Jérôme and Danny show, Valcke seemed to have kick-started the drive to get these funds paid as soon as possible following a crucial meeting in Zurich on 19 September 2007. Valcke addressed a letter to the foreign affairs director-general, Ayanda Ntsaluba, asking him to confirm this arrangement. Valcke informed Ntsaluba that the South African government had committed to paying $ 10 million “to the legacy programme for the Diaspora and specifically for the Caribbean Countries”.
Jordaan followed up with Ntsaluba two days later, attaching Valcke’s letter to his inquiry and ending his communication by stating, “Your cooperation in ensuring that government meets its commitment will be highly appreciated”. He also wrote to Warner on the same day, informing him that he had met with Valcke, Blatter and Moleketi in Zurich on 19 September 2007 and assuring him that the matter was concluded as soon as possible. Valcke was pushing so hard for urgent finalisation of this payment that on 7 December 2007, he sent an email to Moleketi at 1.34 am in which he complained that he “never received confirmation” that his letter of 19 September 2007 had been received. He concluded that this is based on a discussion between Fifa and the South African government and our President and H.E President Mbeki.” There is no explanation of what was behind the need for these funds to be paid so urgently, even though they were part of a legacy of a tournament that was three years away.
AmaBhungane obtained documents from Safa that did not mention paying $ 10 million to Concacaf as part of the African Diaspora Legacy Programme. Eddy Maloka, who headed the African Legacy Programme until late 2007, told amaBhungane that their budget and work never included a payment of $ 10 million to Concacaf. The official budget presented to Fifa in January 2007 had a much more modest R20-million for the African Diaspora and was scheduled to be paid out over four years. On 10 December 2007, Eddy Maloka wrote to Valcke saying that the government had undertaken to pay the $ 10 million towards the “2010 Fifa World Cup Diaspora Legacy Programme”. However, the then minister of foreign affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, suggested that the money be paid to the Local Organising Committee.
This version chimes with that provided in the 2015 indictment drawn up when former Concacaf general secretary Chuck Blazer was still alive. Blazer was cited as Warner’s co-conspirator and was allegedly paid a $750,000 cut of the $ 10. The most critical details in this text are related to the payment of $10 million from Fifa to South Africa to support the World Cup. This payment was made without any authorisation from the LOC board, and Valcke wrote to Jordaan on 28 January 2008 to send him a signed confirmation that Fifa must deduct the $10 million from the LOC’s $ 423 million operational budget. Valcke also mentioned that Fifa had already received two funding requests from Warner, $616,000 for an under-16 tournament and $ 1.6 million for renovations of a sports centre. Valcke then proceeded to make the second payment of $ 1.6 million — also without proper authorisation from the LOC — without appropriate permission from the LOC board.
Valcke told amaBhungane why he approved these two payments without proper authorisation. Danny Jordaan, the president of Safa at the time, apologised for the delays in getting the needed approval. Two days before Valcke authorised the $1.6-million payment, Jordaan apologised for the delays in getting the required authorisation. By late February, an obscure document was presented to a skeleton exco of the LOC, which made two recommendations: that the LOC approach the government for an additional R70-million in funding and that the board greenlights a contribution of 10.0 million US$ to support legacy programmes in the Diaspora under Fifa’s management and control. Both ministers confirmed that the financing proposal appeared reasonable and it would be for the SA Government to demonstrate its commitment in writing.
Jordaan allegedly asked Oliphant, the Safa president, to sign a letter authorising Fifa to deduct the $ 10 million from the LOC’s operational budget. Three days after he received Oliphant’s letter, Valcke approved the payment of the remaining $7,784,000. However, the authorisation from the LOC never came, and the funds never went from the LOC budget. On 12 January 2009, Fifa Deputy Secretary-General Kattner delivered a letter informing Jordaan that Fifa would deduct $ 10 million from match ticketing revenue due to Safa from Fifa, not the LOC budget. This meant that money that should have gone to developing the game allegedly financed Warner’s lifestyle and corrupt conduct.
Without blinking, Jordaan said yes, and the football association he was deployed of became $ 10 million poorer. The most critical details in this text are that Fifa did not respond to questions about why the $ 10 million payment was not deducted from the LOC’s operational budget as agreed but instead from the portion of funds meant for Safa. Former Safa vice-president Lucas Nhlapo told amaBhungane that neither Jordaan nor Oliphant had the power to authorise the payment and that the NEC never questioned why such a large sum was paid from money owed to the association without proper authorisation. Mumble, the former Safa chief executive, has surfaced an interesting theory that the US authorities floated to explain Jordaan and Valcke’s determination to get the $ 10 million paid. In 2020 Mumble delivered a 71-page report to the Safa NEC titled Governance Challenges at Safa, which Safa branded an attempt to destabilise the association after it also leaked to the media.
Mumble revealed that Jordaan arranged a trip to the US in April of 2017 to engage with the US district attorney for the Southern District Mumble, a Safa NEC member, was part of a delegation that comprised himself, Jordaan, Warwick Radford of the law firm Nortons, and senior counsels Gilbert Marcus and Norman Arendse. They were informed during the debriefing sessions that the US authorities had tracked Jordaan’s movements and formed the view that he served as an intermediary between Valcke and Warner to lobby for votes which were crucial to any Fifa presidential race and that they believed the $10-million payment was part of that process. Mumble claims that the US district attorney appeared convinced South Africa did not bribe its way to win the 2010 Fifa World Cup hosting rights. He also claims that the US authorities had tracked Jordaan’s movements and formed the view that he served as an intermediary between Valcke and Warner to lobby for votes crucial to any Fifa presidential race and that they believed the $ 10 million payment was part of that process.
The US DoJ has not abandoned its theory that the $ 10 million was a bribe to secure the 2010 hosting rights, as Mumble claimed. A new indictment issued in 2020 includes the original bribery allegations. Dr Jordaan has declined any comment on these theories and the suggestion that the payment was a covert bribe from the SA government. The New York trip also led to significant fallout, with Safa vice presidents Lucas Nhlapo and Elvis Shishana asking to be briefed on the trip's outcomes. Dr Jordaan gave them an entirely different version of the trip, stating that it was to negotiate a cooperation agreement with the US Soccer Football Association.
Nhlapo was incensed because he had succeeded Arendse as the convenor of the task team overseeing Safa’s internal inquiry into the $10-million issue. When he and Shishana started asking questions about the trip, a plan was hatched to eliminate the two deputies. The 2018 Safa congress was brought forward, where Nhlapo and Shishana lost their positions. Two months after Jordaan’s US trip, the association started trying to recoup the $10 million. Mumble wrote to Thulas Nxesi, the then minister of sport and recreation, and the department’s director-general, Alec Moemi, asking the government to pay back the funds.
Mumble also attached the minutes of the meeting held on 22 February 2008, where a resolution to pay the $ 10 million appears to be confirmed. This attempt at trying to recoup the money failed, with Moemi informing Safa that the government had no documentation that proved its commitment to pay the funds. Three days after Safa wrote the letter, Nxesi told Parliament that the association “does not intend to recover this money as it was paid for a legitimate purpose, and there is no verdict of wrongdoing on the part of CONCACAF”. This did not stop the association from presenting its claim as potentially enforceable. Safa mentioned their plans to recover this money in their financials for 2018 and 2019, but the government tried to propose a deal that would not admit liability.
Former Safa, acting CEO Gay Mokoena said the government indicated it would be prepared to assist a football programme to a similar amount. Danny Jordaan was not interested in a refund of the $ 10 million and has resisted an accounting. Safa recorded an R2.6-million loss in its 2022 financials, and the $ 10 million would come in handy for the association struggling to pay service providers and regions on time and cannot afford to hire junior national team coaches permanently. To benefit from the restitutions, it would have to explain how the people it trusted to conduct their affairs betrayed the association for selfish gains.
This article is originally published by the dailymaverick.co.za by Njabulo Ngidi for amaBhungane
