November 14 – More than four years after staging the 2010 World Cup, several of South Africa’s top construction firms have been accused of colluding over tenders in the run-up to the tournament.
The country’s Competition Commission has referred four companies to the Competition Tribunal. It claims they acted together when bidding for contracts to build stadiums.
The commission said in some instances the companies concerned allocated tenders among themselves and reached deals “agreeing on profit margins.”
South Africa poured R20 billion (nearly $2 billion) into the construction and refurbishment of 10 stadiums. The firms that have been referred to the tribunal are WBHO, Group Five, Stefanutti and Basil Read.
The move paves the way for possible prosecutions but the Commission said the firms involved all deny the allegations. “They have denied collusive tendering, but we have evidence that they were involved in such behaviour,” said spokesman Mava Scott.
“These firms colluded when bidding for tenders… by, among others, allocating tenders among themselves and agreeing on profit margins to be achieved from these tenders.”
Five of the stadiums were built from scratch, including Soccer City in Soweto, which hosted the final. Twenty-one companies have already admitted wrongdoing and have paid settlements totalling R1.4 billion, according to reports..
The news came as FIFA praised South Africa’s World Cup legacy in a report on its website.
“As of September 2014, R82 million has been disbursed for a variety of projects in the areas of football development, education, capacity-building and health,” said FIFA. “At the same time, the Legacy Trust has generated R72 million in interest, in line with the trust’s aim to become a self-sustaining source of funding that will continue benefiting South Africans, and particularly the country’s football community, over the long term. A total of R450 million (then $65 million) had originally been invested in the 2010 Legacy Trust following the World Cup in South Africa.”
“The results of the Legacy Trust … show that we delivered on our promise that the 2010 FIFA World Cup would establish sustainable long-term human and social development initiatives through football in the host country,” said FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke. “Legacy must be measured in the long term and must be thoroughly planned. The Legacy Trust is a perfect example of this.”
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