Johannesburg — WHEN Jimmy Mohlala, the speaker of the Mpumalanga municipality of Mbombela, was gunned down in front of his house in Ka nyamazane outside Nelspruit on Sunday night, news of the killing sent shock waves through SA's political circles.

The murder was widely reported internationally, with headlines ranging from "SA 2010 official gunned down" (BBC) to "SA official who exposed 2010 graft killed" (CNN), "World Cup whistleblower shot dead in SA" (AFP) and "2010 World Cup worries rise with brutal killing of top official" (The Times).

So what are the ramifications of this murder for the 2010 brand image?

Mohlala, who reportedly received death threats via SMS last year, was instrumental in exposing tender irregularities in the R1bn Mbombela 2010 World Cup stadium, which led to the suspension of several officials in the municipality. At the heart of these irregularities was a deal in which provincial and municipal officials attempted to defraud a rural community out of land on which the stadium is being built.

The officials tried to bulldoze Matsafeni community leaders into selling a 118ha piece of prime land on the outskirts of Nelspruit for just R1. According to Paddy Hartdegen , author of five books on the building industry, the Matsafeni community was forcibly removed from its ancestral land under apartheid. In the late 1990s, the Matsafeni people lodged a claim with the Land Claims Commission for 118ha of prime property just outside Nelspruit.

Says Hartdegen : "The land itself had once belonged to the Matsafeni people who lived, farmed, and even buried their dead there. So they took their case to the Land Claims Commission and in 2003, the land was returned to them.

"To protect this ancestral land for the community, Matsafeni family representatives agreed to set up the Matsafeni Trust and appoint a board of directors to manage the trust's affairs. Over the next few years, this trust earned R20m and each one of the Matsafeni families seemed confident, even certain, that they would all prosper.

"But two years ago, the Mbombela municipality began building on the land, without the Matsafeni community's permission. When the community objected, the council attempted a forced sale, which was stopped only when the community obtained an interim interdict."

High Court Judge Ntendeya Mavundla, who issued the interdict, warned Mbombela's legal team that its treatment of the Matsafeni was little different from those of colonialists who usurped land from Africans in return for "mirrors" or "shiny buttons".

Ever since the tender for construction of the Mbombela stadium was issued, the project has been rocked by a series of scandals, including:

• The spending of R1,45m on a lavish party that marked the sod-turning ceremony of the stadium.

• In June last year, the Mbombela municipal manager gagged officials from speaking publicly about the growing disputes around the stadium. The gagging order came after irate stadium workers appealed directly to then president Thabo Mbeki about a range of workplace and salary issues.

• Subsequently, construction company Basil Read dismissed 500 workers over a series of strikes.

• In September last year, the flames of acrimony erupted again between the Matsafeni community and the municipality, when the only two schools in the area were earmarked for destruction to make way for the stadium parking lot. In protest, pupils burnt tyres and demonstrated angrily at the site.

The Mbombela murder comes at a time when the world is scrutinising SA's ability to host a safe and secure World Cup and it is crucial that no stone is left unturned in finding the villains, who have not only shattered the lives of an entire family but have tarnished the nation's brand image.

Dr Eberl is engaged in internal branding for the 2010 Soccer World Cup and is the author of BrandOvation: How Germany Won the World Cup of Nation Branding.