“Jordaan must give account over SAFA bribe” Trollip says in new letter

Democratic Alliance (DA) Eastern Cape leader, Athol Trollip, has penned a third letter to Nelson Mandela Bay Executive Mayor and South African Football Association (SAFA) boss, Danny Jordaan, asking him to provide answers on his involvement in the paying of $10-million for South Africa to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Last week, the troubled soccer body confirmed previous reports that the amount, which was diverted at the request of SAFA to the so-called Africa Diaspora Legacy Programme through suspended Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACF) boss Jack Warner, was indeed a bribe despite it being rejected by Sports and Recreation Minister, Fikile Mbalula.

“South Africa refuses to drown itself in the blame-victim mentality game. The FBI indictment and FIFA orchestrated investigations are littered with explosive contradictions,” Mbalula told the media in Johannesburg on Thursday.

“If there are any irregularities that we are not aware of, we are prepared to collaborate with the American law enforcement agency to fight corruption and clean off FIFA”.

On Sunday, a document addressed to now suspended FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke in 2007, was published by Eyewitness News on twitter, which not only features Jordaan’s name and signature at the bottom, but also instructs that the amount be paid to the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the World Cup.

In an interview with CityPress shortly after the claims broke in June last year, then-FIFA President Molefi Oliphant accused Jordaan of betraying him by revealing no information about the letter, and continuing to remain mum when he submitted a request of his own to Valcke in 2008, that a portion of the LOC’s operating budget needs to be paid to CONCACAF via Warner.

“We met twice on Saturday and Sunday discussing this letter [I signed] and there was no disclosure from him that a letter was written on December 10 2007,” Oliphant told the paper.

“If you look at both of them, their contents are the same, including the language used, and this simply means they were written by the same person. I signed it because it was given to me by the person I have worked with for more than two decades”.

In his letter, Trollip stated that Jordaan “must come out of hiding” and explain the allegations “which is consuming you as the Mayor of our Metro”.

The full letter reads as follows: 

Dear Mayor Jordaan,

My two open letters to you, sent last year and still without reply, refer.

In them I asked you to come out of hiding and come clean with the people of Nelson Mandela Bay about the $10-million FIFA bribe scandal which is consuming you as the Mayor of our Metro.

You slighted the people, you hid from scrutiny, and you refused to take responsibility. So again I write to you to ask for your honesty on behalf of our people.

While this letter is addressed to you, it is really about the hard-working, freedom-loving people of Nelson Mandela Bay. People who for too long have been under the thumb of your corrupt ANC government leaving them without jobs or proper service delivery.

When President Zuma deployed you to Nelson Mandela Bay some people thought that things would change. The people boldly said “give him a chance” - only to be predictably disappointed when news broke of your involvement in the FIFA bribery scandal. Instead of change they got more of the same from the ANC: disgraceful corruption.

When FIFA confirmed this week that a $10-million bribe was paid to secure the 2010 World Cup, our Madiba Magic memories were dashed, all in the disgusting name of corruption and greed.

Adding insult to injury, in a week of misery for the South African people, ANC colleagues of yours have exposed grotesque state capture at the hands of the Guptas who call the ANC friends. Your ANC colleagues this week stood up and told the truth. The question is: will you?

You have played the people like pawns in an ANC corruption chess match; used and fooled at the will of a select few. Last year you admitted that you had facilitated and signed a deal that saw the transfer of funds to Jack Warner but assured us that this was not a bribe. Danny, your signature is on the letter to FIFA!

FIFA having now confirmed that this deal signed off by you was in fact a bribe, makes you responsible, by your own admission.

As the Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, the integrity of our Metro, its government and the interests of the people, demand that you immediately lift the veil on allegations of this R160 million bribe.

Come clean Danny Jordaan, come out of hiding and tell us the truth! The people of Nelson Mandela Bay have been let down by successive ANC mayors in past years, and don't deserve to be let down again.

I trust you will do the right thing, for the people.

Yours Sincerely,

Athol Trollip