Soccer: World Cup stadiums 'waste of resources'

A jubilant Cape Town last night took delivery of its spectacular £370 ($832 million) World Cup stadium.

But elsewhere in South Africa, officials faced claims the country has wasted resources on state-of-the-art sports facilities that will be white elephants after the final whistle is blown.

The 68,000-seat Cape Town stadium, which has taken 2500 workers less than three years to build, was formally handed over by contractors to Mayor Dan Plato.

"Cape Town stadium will become one of the world's sporting landmarks," he said.

Eight World Cup matches will be played there next June and July, including one semifinal.

The seaside stadium, which has 37,000sq m of glass roofing to protect spectators from the elements, is Cape Town's most expensive building.

Its completion comes amid mounting claims that South Africa - where half the population still survives on an average of £130 a month - has mortgaged itself to the hilt to host a football spectacular that will bring little benefit to its people.

The country has built six new stadiums and refurbished four others. Among them, Soccer City in Johannesburg is now Africa's largest stadium with 95,000 seats.

In September, the Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, said the Government faced a 2.3 billion rand ($427 million) shortfall for the new venues.

Corruption allegations and tender irregularities in connection with World Cup projects have prompted an investigation into the country's building trade.

Sowetan columnist Andile Mngxitama said: "The Government has enslaved itself to an event that will turn South Africa into a playground for European tourists. When the event is over, we will still be poor."

A documentary, Fahrenheit 2010, which was screened in Cape Town on Sunday, focuses on excesses at the £68 million Mbombela Stadium, which has been built on the site of a school serving a poor community in Nelspruit, near the Kruger Park.

The 46,000-seat stadium will be used for four matches next year, while local residents live in dwellings without water or electricity.

In January, a local politician, Jimmy Mohlala, was murdered after attempting to blow the whistle on tender irregularities linked to the stadium.

This World Cup will offer the highest prize money ever, as a result of television and sponsorship rights for more than £2 billion. South Africa had hoped more than 450,000 foreign tourists would visit during the month-long tournament starting on June 11.

However, international ticket sales are slow with fewer than 100,000 applications from non-South Africans. In total 3.8 million tickets are for sale.

Cape Town stadium has attracted criticism for being in middle-class Green Point - a long journey from the football-loving townships. The project also ran over budget by £120 million.

But Cape Town's director of communications, Pieter Cronje, denied the stadium would be a white elephant.

"It is true that there will be 10 hungry stadiums in South Africa after 2010. But this is a world-class multipurpose stadium in a city that is very attractive to international stars. It is a chicken-and-egg situation. Now that we have the stadium we believe the stars will come."

- INDEPENDENT