World Soccer Corruption, Africa’s “Illicit Financial Flows” and Elite Silences

Corruption Denialism

Foolishly, South African elites quickly circled the wagons. The then finance minister, Trevor Manuel (now a leader of Rothschilds Bank), rebutted, “I am not aware of any request for a bribe of any size.” Mbeki was also denialist: “I am not aware of anybody who solicited a bribe from the government for the purpose of our country being awarded the right to host the World Cup… no public money was ever used to pay a bribe.”

Can Mbeki be believed? As president, he denied medicines to people living with AIDS fifteen years ago, and so is credited (in a Harvard study) with the unnecessary deaths of at least 330,000 South Africans. Fortunately, protesters from the Treatment Action Campaign raised sufficient pressure to overturn his policies in 2004, at which point AIDS drugs became available and the country’s life expectancy rose from 52 then to 61 today, with three million people getting free generic medicines. So Mbeki was an especially odd choice to lead the IFF Panel, especially given how corruption-riddled his own regime became (e.g., his long-protected police chief Jackie Selebi, who was also head of Interpol, was owned by the local Mob). And especially given Mbeki’s role in the financial liberalisation that is today crippling the South African economy.

Finally, three days after the bribery story broke, FIFA’s local organizer in chief, Danny Jordaan, admitted a $10 million payment was indeed made to Warner’s accounts in early 2008. But he claimed it was for soccer “development” aimed at uplifting the African diaspora: “How could we have paid a bribe for votes four years after we had won the bid?” Disbelieving critics point out that the SA government kept this unprecedented “development” gift to Caribbean soccer a secret in 2010, and had quietly asked FIFA to deposit it directly into Warner’s notorious slush fund account.

In Jordaan’s defense it could be argued that bribing Warner was a sensible investment for the national interest, along with trotting out the octogenarian Mandela to visit him in Trinidad, done clearly against doctor’s orders. Others might then ask whether the illicit funding was really limited to just $10 million – in the context of a World Cup conservatively estimated to have cost South Africa $5 billion (but more like double that if all the unnecessary items plus a dramatic increase in the foreign debt are calculated).

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