South Africa’s sports minister has launched a blistering attack on what he calls ‘fools’ responsible for the visa chaos threatening the upcoming World Cup. Documents obtained by this paper reveal a string of blunders that have left foreign players and officials stranded, while British consultants brought in to smooth the process have been frozen out.
The minister, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to discuss the debacle publicly, did not mince words. “We have fools running the show,” he told me in a brief phone call. “They have created a mess that is embarrassing the nation. We brought in British experts to help, but they have been sidelined by bureaucrats who know nothing about hosting a global event.”
The visa shambles has already seen at least three teams unable to confirm their travel plans, with players waiting weeks for approvals. Internal emails, passed to me by a source inside the department, show that applications were mishandled, lost, or simply ignored. One official wrote: “We are drowning. The system cannot cope.”
The British expertise the minister referenced comes from a firm that handled logistics for the 2012 London Olympics. They were hired six months ago on a £2 million contract. But sources say their recommendations were repeatedly overruled by local officials who feared losing control. The firm’s director, who asked not to be named, said: “We offered a simple digital system that would have processed visas in 48 hours. They rejected it. Now they are paying the price.”
The cost is mounting. Airlines report empty seats on flights to South Africa, and hotels are cancelling bookings. The economic hit could exceed R500 million, according to a leaked government memo. The memo warns of “significant reputational damage” if the situation is not resolved within days.
The minister’s outburst has angered allies of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is already under pressure over a sluggish economy. A presidential spokesperson dismissed the remarks as “unhelpful,” insisting that “every effort is being made to fix the problem.” But the problem was avoidable.
I have seen the original tender documents from 2021. They explicitly called for “international expertise” to manage visa processing. Instead, the contract went to a local company with no experience in mass event logistics. The company’s director, a former party fundraiser, has no background in travel or immigration. His firm has been paid R40 million to date.
This is not incompetence. This is cronyism dressed up as empowerment. And it is happening while the world watches. The World Cup kicks off in four weeks. If the visa chaos continues, teams will pull out. And South Africa will be left holding a bill it cannot pay.
The minister knows this. That’s why he called the bureaucrats fools. But fools don’t answer to logic. They answer to power. And the power in this case lies with the people who stuffed the system with their friends. They are the real enemies of the game.
