THE RIGHT to sell Fifa’s 2010 football World Cup hospitality packages in Zimbabwe has been awarded to a close relative of president Robert Mugabe’s who is subject to international sanctions, a South African newspaper has reported.
Native Investment Group (NIG), a company owned by Philip Chiyangwa, a former Zanu-PF MP and party provincial chairman who is also Mr Mugabe’s cousin, was given the right to sell the packages late last year by Match Hospitality, which handles Fifa’s hospitality packages internationally.
Match Hospitality is run by Philippe Blatter (45), a nephew of Fifa president Sepp Blatter, through his Swiss-based sports and marketing company Infront Sports and Media.
Infront owns 10 per cent of Match.
Late last year, Mr Blatter was accused of nepotism after his nephew’s connection to the deal emerged.
Infront stands to bank €350 million if all 380,000 tickets are sold for the 2010 World Cup.
Match spokesman Peter Csanadi told South Africa’s Cape Times newspaper that NIG was chosen by Primedia and Sail, a joint venture that was their sub-Saharan African agent for the tournament.
Mr Chiyangwa (50), who has become one of Zimbabwe’s richest businessmen in the 10 years since Mr Mugabe instigated his crippling land reform programme, has been placed on sanction lists by Australia and New Zealand because of his links with Zanu-PF.
He is also one of the people responsible for launching Zimbabwe’s Affirmative Action Group in the 1990s, a body that campaigned for the introduction of the Indigenisation Act.
The controversial legislation was gazetted by Mugabe-loyalists in the unity government this month. If adopted in full, all medium-to-large companies in the country will have to be 51 per cent owned by black Zimbabweans.
When asked what process was gone through to award Mr Chiyangwa’s company the lucrative Fifa deal over other local companies, Mr Csanadi allegedly replied: “I do not think it is appropriate to discuss our business decisions in detail.”