Cape Town — Thousands more Soccer World Cup tickets will become available from next month, adding to the 311000 that are yet to be sold, and all will go on sale from April 15, the local organising committee (LOC) told MPs yesterday.

The LOC's briefing to Parliament's sports committee came after numerous complaints that as a developing country, SA had been disadvantaged as a result of hi -tech methods of applying for tickets and also concerns that the sale of tickets had not been vigorous enough.

LOC CEO Danny Jordaan and his team said the ticketing issue remained the last outstanding issue for the World Cup before kick-off in June.

The key policy issue had been to ensure fair access to tickets and soon South Africans would be able to buy tickets with cash over the counter.

LOC chief financial officer Farouk Seedat said of the 3,03-million "purchasable" tickets, 743965 were allocated to the general public and the rest reserved for Fifa partners and other groups such as the LOC and tour operators.

A little more than 1- million tickets of the 2,1-million sold so far had gone to the general public, with 107576 tickets sold to the public in the US , 63835 to the UK, followed by Germany at 29733 and Australia with 26488 sold.

There were 311000 tickets still available for the public, he said.

Fifa's ticketing regime allocates tickets to Fifa partners and to the football associations of the 32 participating countries, but if these tickets are not taken, they will become available to the general public.

They are, however, likely to be more expensive tickets. The 16% allocation to the supporters of the two teams playing would also be "redistributed" if not taken up.

Portfolio committee chairman Butana Komphela complained that in the initial "lottery" for tickets, it took two months for the applicant to be informed if the application had been successful, and by that time alternatives were unavailable .

The "random selection draw sales phase" closes on March 31.