Danny Jordaan, president of Safa (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images)
Safa president Danny Jordaan says government, through the department of sport and recreation, announced an interest in owning the stadium and denounced the private management of the facility.
“That stadium, when it was half-built, was owned by football,” said Jordaan.
“We used to live in the front house, and now we’re living in the back of the house, looking at our front house, because somebody else now owns the front house,” said Jordaan.
“When we made the bid for the 2010 World Cup, the government made it clear it could not invest in a stadium it did not own.
“So we had to hand over the stadium to the City of Joburg, then the government invested money in the city to finish building the stadium. We had to do that because the stadium was the showpiece of the 2010 World Cup.
“But we have since considered the sacrifices we had made – at that stage, the stadium was worth about R300 million to R500 million, and we had to hand it over for nothing.”