Thursday, 01 July 2010 15:06
JOHANNESBURG - The department of human settlements will use the experience gained during construction of World Cup stadiums to improve the delivery of houses by 2030, Housing Minister Tokyo Sexwale said on Thursday.
“I have declared that by 2030 children who are born this year should be able to access houses and flats,” Sexwale said at press conference at Soccer City outside Johannesburg.
Instead of building stadiums and airports, his department would intensify its delivery of houses.
Sexwale said his businesses had benefited from the construction of the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. In return, the businesses would build more than 50,000 houses as a social investment.
“We are changing our stadiums to houses, we take advantage of Fifa project management skills and use it for our people.”
Sexwale, who is also on Fifa’s committee against racism, said South Africa was one of the best examples of the fight against racism in soccer as the country had defeated discrimination.
He applauded the fact that there had been no reported racism related incidents during the World Cup.
“Although there have been no incidents, this campaign reminds us that we shouldn’t discriminate against each other because of the different shapes of nose, hair and shades of skin,” Sexwale said.
“This country was expelled from Fifa for racism and now we are making this declaration against racism while the country is hosting the Fifa World Cup.”
Federico Addiecho, the head of corporate social responsibility for Fifa, said team captains would read messages against racism before the start of all quarterfinal matches.
“The captains will be reading the message out of the rainbow nation to the world,” he said.
Fifa spokesman Nicolas Maingot said it had not taken any disciplinary steps against Nigeria and France for political interference in football.
He said it was too early to make any announcements about the two teams situations.
Fifa received a letter from the Nigerian government on Wednesday night saying that the national team would be suspended from participating in football competitions for two years.
“We only received formal notification from Nigeria last night, we are still not sure about the French situation,” Maingot said.
Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the team on Wednesday to sit out international competition for two years as punishment for its poor showing.
On Wednesday, French lawmakers summoned coach Raymond Domenech and football federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes to answer questions on how the country’s World Cup campaign went wrong.
France, winner of the 1998 World Cup and runner-up in 2006, failed to qualify for the second round of the tournament and suffered a humiliating 2-1 defeat to South Africa in the opening round.
- Sapa
The Citizen
Comments by Sonny
The ANC could not succeed in 16 years, what makes them different because of the World Cup?
They live in a dream land based on the Alice in Wonderlands forest!
Which country gives people houses for free?
They must earn and pay for them!
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