Johannesburg- Trouble is brewing among the 2010 Fifa Legacy Trust members following accusations that the R450-million given to the SA Football Association (Safa) as part of the 2010 World Cup legacy programme could have been misappropriated.
The trustees, including veteran soccer administrator Ria Ledwaba and former Safa vice-president Elvis Shishana are demanding answers from the scheme’s hierarchy regarding outstanding documentation on how the 2010 Fifa Legacy Trust finances were handled by Safa.
The aggrieved group has accused the legacy trust’s general manager, Joe Carrim, of not providing them with outstanding documents.
Free States’ long-serving member, Obakeng “Baks” Molatedi, is the other Safa representative on the board and Safa president Danny Jordaan is the chairman.
After the successful and profitable 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa, Fifa made R450-million available to South Africa as a legacy grant to ensure that the 2010 World Cup left a lasting football legacy in the country.
To administer these funds, the 2010 Fifa World Cup Legacy Trust was established.
In a letter to the trustees that Sunday World has seen, Ledwaba wrote that if a meeting is not convened within 14 days, she will have no option but to report the matter for a full forensic investigation of the trust.
“I am sure there would be no need for this drastic step should the trust oblige by my request for the said information and urgent meeting. You will recall that at our last meeting of trustees held on the 16 April 2021, we took a resolution to call a meeting within 14 days and to provide us with the [outstanding] documentation,” she wrote.
The documents requested include bank statements, reports related to Covid-19 relief funding for the regions, as well as payments to, among others, regional leagues.
Ledwaba also voiced concern over their removal as trustees.
“While I do not have issues stepping down, I believe that it would only be proper and lawful for me to do so as soon as I am satisfied that I have discharged my duties as a trustee. In this regard, I believe that it would only be proper for me and any other trustees to step down as soon as we have convened a meeting.”
Fifa, via trustee and board member Federico Addiechi, has also questioned how the board could have been dissolved without full consultation.
“We are reviewing the entire documentation submitted to the trustees on 8 October. We understand, however, that the trustees representing Safa did not receive that information or at least not through the same e-mail. While Fifa’s feedback is still pending, we would like to express our surprise and concern with the decision to remove the three Safa representatives from the trust. We have involved our legal team to assess this decision and provide us with legal guidance on what the next steps should possibly be,” he said.
“Irrespective of that analysis, however, Safa’s decision is worrisome and sheds a very negative light onto the more than 10 years of work and impact of the 2010 Fifa World Cup Legacy Trust,” Addiechi said.
Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe said: “There is a panel of attorneys dealing with the matter. I do not want to litigate via the press.” Ledwaba was not available to elaborate further on the matter.
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