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Cape Town mayor Helen Zille is to meet Fifa's local organising committee and Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool on Thursday afternoon to discuss the financing of the proposed Green Point stadium
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille is to meet Fifa's local organising committee and Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool on Thursday afternoon to discuss the financing of the proposed Green Point stadium.
The meeting, at a city hotel, would also be attended by members of her mayoral committee and Cabinet ministers, she said in a
statement on Wednesday.
The move follows her decision earlier this week to put a hold on the appointment of consultants for the planning and design of the project, pending a full financial report.
She said on Wednesday she looked forward to discussing the financial implications of the stadium -- which is earmarked to host a 2010 Soccer World Cup semi-final -- at the meeting.
"I have already stated that we cannot start signing contracts worth millions of rands until we have been given adequate
information on how much the stadium will cost and how it will be paid for," she said.
"Thus far we have not been presented with a proper financial model to work with, and it would be irresponsible to proceed
without one.
"I hope that our meeting tomorrow will provide us with that information."
Earlier on Wednesday, LOC chairman Irvin Khoza told Sapa the committee had asked for a meeting with Zille to defuse the
controversy.
"We are confident that it will be resolved," he said. "If there are grey areas, we must provide information on those grey areas.
She must be briefed properly.... I think it's reasonable."
Asked what would happen if Cape Town decided against building the stadium, he said: "We'll respond at that particular time. We can't respond now."
He said the row had not been damaging to the cup preparations "at this point in time.
"For us, we are giving Cape Town an opportunity. We've got lots of venues, we don't want to punish anyone. We've got to be
proactive and accommodating," he said.
Though Khoza said the meeting would take place on Friday morning, LOC chief executive Danny Jordaan later confirmed it was on for Thursday afternoon.
Zille said earlier this week that on the basis of statistics presented to the mayoral committee, it was clear the stadium would
cost at least R1.5 billion to build.
At most, the city could expect to receive R500 million from national government and would have to find the remaining R1
billion.
On the basis of these preliminary statistics, it would be "grossly irresponsible" to give the nod to the project, she said.
Rasool has described Zille's decision as "irresponsible in the extreme", while the African National Congress claims she is using
the issue to score "cheap political points and to settle election battles".
The Western Cape ANC said in a statement on Wednesday that Zille should understand that there were long-standing agreements between the LOC and different spheres of government "and she should not be a hindrance to a process that is in an advanced stage.
"It seems rather interesting that she prefers to soothe the fears and uncertainty of a few well-off residents who live in the
immediate vicinity of the stadium instead of the thousands of soccer-loving people who did not vote for her."
However the mayor got support from an unexpected quarter on Wednesday afternoon.
Cosatu Western Cape said in a statement that it welcomed the need for a more comprehensive discussion on the stadium.
It said Cosatu's support for the World Cup was on condition that the event promotes employment, especially in underdeveloped areas.
For this reason, Cosatu was proposing that the stadium be built on the Cape Flats.
"Fifa should not dictate to us on how to plan and develop our country," the union federation said.
Sapa
