Cape Town - New details of the expenditure of the failed Cape Town Cup were revealed during a full sitting of the City of Cape Town council on Wednesday.
The Freedom Front Plus’s Andre Fourie took mayor Patricia de Lille to task over the “wasteful expenditure” incurred during the ill-fated tournament that took place on July 24 and 26.
Ajax Cape Town and SuperSport United took on Sporting Lisbon from Portugal and English Premiership side Crystal Palace.
Fourie called for heads to roll and “politicians involved” to be held accountable for the estimated R28 million loss. He demanded that De Lille and the city’s mayoral member for Tourism, Events and Economic Development Garreth Bloor provide answers.
In the wake of the failed tournament, executive director of Tourism, Events and Economic Development Anton Groenewald resigned.
There were accusations from the ANC and Cosatu that Groenewald took the blame for Bloor and De Lille. However, according to the city, as the executive director, the decisions made by the directorate were the responsibility of its head.
In a written reply to council, the city could not reveal the final income and expenditure of the event, saying, “this will be addressed in the close out report based on the audited figures”. De Lille also could not state whether the event was a success or not.
The city said in its reply that the expected income for the event was R34.3m. The calculation is based on figures submitted by the city in a written reply to the council.
But Fourie said the figure wasbased on the city anticipating that 50 000 people were expected to attend each of the two matches. But he claimed only 22 000 tickets were sold.
“The ticket income would then cover the R34.3m and the city would still make a profit of R801 000.
“On one day, 1 000 people attended one match and on the next match day 3 000 people attended the other. That means that the city is sitting with a loss of R28 million, probably more,” he said.
The city said R12.4m was paid to Crystal Place, R12.4m to Sporting Lisbon, R3.2m to Ajax Cape Town and R1m to SuperSport United.
Additional costs incurred include R500 000 for marketing, R500 000 for branding rights and activation costs, and R3.5m was paid to Cape Town Stadium for direct costs and services.
The city also disclosed, in its reply to Fourie’s question, that it carried considerable losses for two Bafana Bafana matches at the Cape Town Stadium during the 2014/15 financial year.
It had spent R2.4m on the Bafana match against Nigeria in September 2014 but only generated R2.1m in income. On June 16, the city spent R2.8m on a Bafana match against Angola but only received R560 000 in income.
Fourie also asked about the final capital cost for the building of the stadium and the total operational and maintenance costs of the stadium calculated from its construction to date.
The city said the total cost for the stadium was R4.2 billion, with the city contributing R960m. But it only gave the breakdown of operating and maintenance expenditure and costs of consultants for the 2014/2015 financial year, which were R203m and R8.8m, respectively.
Meanwhile, spokesman for the Auditor-General of South Africa, Africa Boso, said the Chapter nine institution had received a complaint, brought by a member of the public, calling for an investigation into the event.
“The complaint is being considered in line with the institution’s standing procedures and the complainant will receive feedback in due course,” he said.
Cape Argus