Cape Town has been warned it could lose the rights to host a 2010 Soccer
World Cup semifinal and other matches if residents of Green Point - site
of a new stadium for the global showpiece - take their opposition to the
construction of the venue to court.
Visibly exasperated 2010 World Cup local organising committee chairman
Irvin Khoza said on Wednesday the committee would decide at a board meeting
in February whether to look for an alternative to Cape Town.
"I am told there are objections from residents of Green Point, and
that is their democratic right. But if they take this issue to court,
they can kiss the World Cup goodbye," Khoza said.
The Green Point Common Association indicated at the beginning of the month
that it would press ahead with legal action to oppose the construction
of the proposed 68000-seat stadium.
However, Khoza said that the organising committee would not allow itself
to be inconvenienced by a legal wrangle, as football governing body Fifa
expected the construction of all World Cup stadiums to begin by early
next year.
"This is serious. Nobody can afford delays because we are on strict
timelines from Fifa. All stadiums have to begin construction by March
in the first quarter of next year. And because of (Green Point's) unique
status as a semifinal venue, we do not have time to be involved in litigation."
Organising committee CEO Danny Jordaan said the squabbles and threat of
legal action were a pity, as the city was ahead of schedule and had met
all requirements up to this stage.
"It is only when that group (the Green Point Common Association)
becomes determined to stop construction that we will have a problem,"
he said.
Jordaan said he could not understand the furore, as there was already
the Green Point stadium on the site of the proposed new stadium.
"We will have to monitor them very carefully, because we have to
be vigilant about this."
"If we lose time, we will be in trouble."
Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile said that according to the latest report
he had received from Cape Town mayor Helen Zille and the engineers on
site, work was continuing, despite the reported opposition to the stadium.
"When work stops, only then will we be able to say that we are taking
the World Cup somewhere else. So, unless people stand in front of the
construction vehicles, Green Point is still one of the host venues of
the 2010 World Cup."
By Mninawa Ntloko. ,
20 Dec 2006.
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