Big bungle in Beijing

By Angela Quintal

Not only did our athletes leave the Beijing Olympics empty handed, but it emerged this week that the government squandered R11-million on a failed expo attempt to showcase the country.

The only thing to show for the money was a Beijing hotel chef who learnt to make koeksisters. An internal report on the Ekhaya Hospitality Centre at the Beijing Olympic Games touted as a pilot project for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo shows it was a costly white elephant that failed to draw the crowds or showcase South Africa properly.

It points to booking a hotel miles from the Olympic action, fights with South African embassy staff, and planning events that clashed with other major Olympic functions. In addition, material for Ekhaya was held by Chinese customs until nine days after the expo was supposed to open.

Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile was blunt in his annotations on the report, which is in the Tribune possession.

In short, planning was poor and late, he writes and asks why a junior official was tasked with
liaising with embassy staff.

Stofile wants a more clinical report, including a proper audited financial statement, so that he can hold his officials accountable for the mess that left his department, the government and others red-faced in Beijing. He wants comment from the two chief directors implicated.

If it is regarded as unauthorised spending, or even fruitless or wasteful expenditure, the money can be recovered from those who were either negligent or deliberately responsible for the breach of the country's public finance management laws.

The debacle is among the reasons why the post of sports director- general Xolisa Sibeko, who was on a year-long probation at the time, was not confirmed by Stofile.

She was eventually shifted to Correctional Services, in a controversial swap with her counterpart, Vernie Petersen, who was embroiled in his own battles with his minister, Ngconde Balfour.

The 22-page report, compiled by Sport and Recreation SA (SRSA) director, Manase Makwela, describes how a contract valued at R11-million was signed in February 2008 by SRSA with the plush new Westin Beijing Chaoyang Hotel, off the Olympic beaten track. The contract covered the use of 20 hotel rooms and three conference venues for the Olympic Games from August 5 to 28.

A further contract for R4-million was negotiated to cover the Paralympic games and was signed in July by Sibeko, although it was never submitted to the hotel and the department managed to wriggle out of it and the cancellation fee was dropped.

According to the report, project organisers were told the hotel was situated in a shopping mall, a location they believed would also help attract shoppers and others to the centre which was to be a home-from- home for South African athletes, officials, fans and even ex-patriots.

However, on arrival in Beijing, there was no sign of a mall, with the hotel far from the Olympic route, and out of the way for most attending the games.

It notes Stofile declined to authorise an advance team, given that he believed his staff should have cultivated a proper working relationship with the embassy, who could have advised and helped with planning, thereby cutting costs.

Officials were also unaware that US President George Bush was also a guest and his security arrangements would have made it difficult for visitors to gain access to Ekhaya. As a result some of the dates of the South African functions had to be moved, including the 2010 gala dinner.

The report notes that relations between the project team and embassy staff, including South Africa's envoy to Beijing, Ndumiso Ntshinga, were stormy, with the latter even walking out of a meeting he was chairing on August 13 and complaining to the minister.

This revolved around a time change for the dinner because it clashed with some Olympic events. Given that some invitations had already been sent out by the embassy, Ntshinga believed it would reflect negatively on South Africa's image if these were withdrawn.

Ntshinga was also not willing to have his name associated with an event that kept changing details. He directed that his name be removed from the invitations that were still to be sent, but this was not obeyed.

It later transpired that the embassy had only sent out 10 of the original 200 invites to diplomats, so the damage that was said to have been done was exaggerated, the report states.

Although the report refers to an inter-departmental project team which held weekly planning meetings, it appears several government departments bailed out altogether or attended haphazardly.

There was a clear lack of co-ordination. GCIS head Themba Maseko said on Saturday it was a case of the SRSA going it alone.

The department of arts and Culture, which was scheduled to use the Westin's rooms on 120 occasions, surprisingly booked themselves in a nearby hotel called Kempinsk, the report states.

Officials blamed the six-hour time difference as part of the problem for the inability to plan properly from South Africa, but Stofile who believes the excuse is silly had an answer for that: SRSA staff could adjust working hours.

• This article was originally published on page 1 of The Sunday Tribune on November 09, 2008