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 Rasool slams Zille on stadium plans
    March 29 2006 at 05:36AM Get IOL on your
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By Anél Powell and Boyd Webb

Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool has accused Cape Town's executive mayor Helen Zille of being "irresponsible in the extreme" by imposing a one-week moratorium on the appointment of consultants for 2010 World Cup projects and says he is to provide R10-million from the province's coffers to revive the planning phase.

"The provincial government will not allow this process to be derailed," he said.

The chairperson of the National Assembly's portfolio committee on sport, Butana Khompela, urged Zille and her mayoral committee on Tuesday to meet Fifa's Local Organising Committee (LOC) and the provincial government to "familiarise" themselves with the funding structures and agreements in place.
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'Extremely expensive project'
Khompela said he did not understand the sudden panic created by "deliberate" misconceptions that World Cup preparations, including the building of a stadium at Green Point, would bankrupt the city.

"I do not know why people should panic and say the city is going to be bankrupt," he said.

The government had guaranteed R242-billion to Fifa to cover any shortfalls in preparations and Cape Town was not expected to carry the burden alone.

"Everyone knows that 90 percent of the budget is carried by the government," he said, disputing claims that the City of Cape Town might have to use its R1-billion capital budget for 2006 to build a stadium at Green Point.

Khompela said the assumptions that had been made were incorrect and reflected a lack of understanding by Zille of the agreements reached between the government and the 2010 LOC on the funding model for the construction and upgrading of stadiums at which World Cup games were to be played.

Awaiting feedback
He said that in the 2005/06 Adjustment Appropriation Bill approved by parliament in October, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel had made R246,5-million available for the initial work associated with the World Cup.

This included R30-million for the planning, design and other preparations associated with the stadium at Green Point.

Responding, Zille said she would happily meet anyone who could show her the financial model that proved the city could afford the World Cup.

If this could not be done, Zille said, she would not shy away from taking decisions that would ensure the city could.

"The upgrading of Newlands stadium is far more affordable," she said, adding that it was far better to take an unpopular decision now than to have taxpayers fork out money to save the city from debt for years to come.

Zille said no consultants would be appointed until the executive and finance committees had been briefed on the mandate to build a stadium at Green Point at an estimated cost of R1,2-billion.

"It would have been grossly irresponsible to launch a project on such inaccurate figures."

After chief operations officer Rushj Lehutso gave the council a long but general presentation, Zille asked him to give a more detailed financial briefing before she finalised the appointment of consultants for the project.

"We were required to take a decision... at the mayco meeting... to begin an extremely expensive project that was not backed up by any proper costings or financial model," Zille said.

"We were told only that the stadium would cost about R1,5-billion to build, that about R500-million would come from the national government and that the city would have to find 'creative ways' to raise the R1-billion remainder."

The City of Cape Town's capital budget, which covers the funding of essential services, is R1-billion.

"We cannot use the full budget to build just one stadium," said Zille.

But Rasool said even the one-week freeze on consultant appointments was too long.

"We are in such a tight time frame that to put any planning processes on ice would send a (negative) signal to investors."

Rasool said he had advised Zille at a meeting last week that she should "say nothing" that would send out the "wrong signals" until his cabinet had met the council's executive committee.

He said it was "shortsighted" of the executive to put the planning on hold simply because there were concerns about who would or would not pay for the project.

"I wish (Zille) had the patience to wait before saying anything."

Zille said: "I was not impatient. The issue was placed before us by the officials. There was an unscheduled presentation by (Lehutso) and a clear requirement for consultant contracts to be put in place.

"I merely said that no contracts could be signed to launch a vast project without any clear costing."

Lehutso had seemed impatient for "an immediate go-ahead", Zille said. "I decided we should be patient enough to wait for the financial statistics."

Asked about the funding of the stadium, which had to be completed by December 2008, Rasool said: "This is precisely the matter we must still talk about."

Zille said she was awaiting feedback from the province and Fifa.

Ian Neilson, mayoral executive committee member for finance, said he had met Lehutso on Tuesday about the financing of the project.

"He has given us information and we are assessing and talking to all involved in 2010. We want a full understanding (of the situation)."

Neilson said R1,8-million in contracts had been awarded by the executive's predecessors to consultants for preliminary work on the proposed stadium. This money had come from the province, he said.


    • This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Times on March 29, 2006
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