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Madiba will always be
there for the Bafana Bafanas! Picture taken at the Orange AFCON 2013 opening
match, South Africa Vs Cape Verde at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg on
January 19, 2013. The Match ended in a 0-0 draw. - Copyright : Orange, picture
by Christian Liewig
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South
Africa is not ready to host the Africa Cup of Nations in January if Morocco
withdraws because of the Ebola epidemic, Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula said
Monday.
The
Confederation of African Football (CAF) has reportedly approached South Africa,
Ghana and five others countries ahead of a November 2 meeting to decide on the
future of the continent’s premier football event.
Vanguard
reports that the minister tweeted: “Hosting AFCON (Africa Cup of Nations) is a
NO NO.” He told South African media that the country had a responsibility to
help fight to help fight the Ebola epidemic that has killed more than
4,500 people, mainly in West Africa, with the UN predicting a surge in deaths
and cases.
“Even
before taking the matter to cabinet, I can tell you unambiguously and
categorically that hosting is a NO NO,” he told South African media. “We do not
have a ready-made abundance of resources to be shifted to AFCON. We did it
(host the 2013 AFCON) in solidarity with Libya last year. Our budget cycle will
not allow us to host the (2015) AFCON. It is totally impossible. We would like
to give this one a pass.”
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| Screengrab of SA Minister of Sport Twitter Account. Credit: @MbalulaFikile |
Mbalula
added: “We will share the responsibility to fight Ebola — we are not immune to
that.
“We
must be prepared to share our skills, our doctors, to reinforce the research to
find a vaccine.”
South
Africa was among seven countries sounded out by the CAF as possible
replacements should Morocco pull out.
The
republic has twice been ‘emergency’ hosts of the competition, replacing
cash-strapped Kenya in 1996 and strife-torn Libya last year.
The
identities of the other five countries have not been officially revealed.
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| Screengrab of SA Minister of Sport Twitter Account. Credit: @MbalulaFikile |
Moroccan
government officials had said last weekend they wanted the January 17-February
8 tournament postponed because they feared a spread of the deadly Ebola virus. But
Cairo-based CAF reacted swiftly, saying the 16-nation tournament should go
ahead as planned, in a different country if necessary. South Africa has
world-class stadia having become the first African hosts of the World Cup four
years ago.
Ghana have also been
approached country that was approached by CAF, according to the sports
minister of the west African country.
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