Cape Town -
The 2010 Fifa World Cup is turning into a "great rip off" in the
Western Cape, the Congress of SA Trade Unions claimed on Friday.
"The Western Cape is losing jobs as a result of Fifa's actions.
It seems that whilst in the rest of the country Fifa and the World
Cup related activities are growing the economy, the Western Cape is
being prejudiced," the union federation's provincial secretary,
Tony Ehrenreich said in a statement.
"The clothes and mascots are being made in sweat shops in China.
Traders were excluded from the soccer stadium precinct and the city
centre.
"The companies trying to manufacture local soccer-related
merchandise are being taken to court. The beer deals are leading to
all beer being foreign and imported, and buses used for the World
Cup are being imported, when we could be manufacturing them," he
charged.
Ehrenreich called on the government to negotiate new agreements
with Fifa to promote the South African economy.
- Fin24.com