11 April 2008
Windhoek — South Africa has given Zambia the mandate to host four countries who qualify for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
The director general of Zambia's Local Organising Committee of the 2011 All Africa Games (Coja), David Diangamo told the Parliamentary Committee on Sport, Youth and Child Affairs in Lusaka on Wednesday that South Africa believed that giving four slots to Zambia was the best way of helping that country benefit from the tournament.
He is quoted by the kickoff.com website as saying that the four countries would be staying in Zambia, and would fly to South Africa to play their respective games and return afterwards.
Diangamo said South Africa, which will host the 2010 World Cup as the first African country to do so, had also offered to purchase big television sets to be put up at Lusaka's Independence Stadium and other stadiums to enable fans who cannot afford to travel to South Africa, to enjoy the matches on television. "I am happy to report to this House that South Africa has given four slots to Zambia to host countries that will qualify for the 2010 World Cup," said Diangamo, who was in South Africa, attending the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa (SCSA) meeting.
Diangamo said the onus was now on Zambia to speed up the rehabilitation of Independence Stadium and other stadiums.
He said Coja would do everything possible to ensure that sports infrastructure was built and rehabilitated for not only the 2011 All Africa Games, but for the 2010 World Cup as training bases.
Meanwhile, the Namibia Football Association (NFA)'s Acting Secretary-General Barry Rukoro seemed perplexed when asked what plans his association has in ensuring that South Africa accords the same to Namibia.
Rukoro questioned the powers South Africa had in mandating Zambia to host four countries that qualify for the 2010 World Cup.
According to him, it was not possible for South Africa to decide which countries must be hosted by which ones.
"It's the right of any country that qualifies for the 2010 World Cup to choose where they want to be based", he charged.
Nampa
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