South Africa’s main opposition party has filed papers seeking a police investigation into bribery allegations against two chief organisers of the 2010 football World Cup.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) complaint was against Danny Jordaan and Molefi Oliphant, who led the successful bid.
It is alleged $10m (£6.4) was paid in exchange for winning the right to host the tournament – the first in Africa.
The South African government and football officials deny the accusation.
Cape Town police is now obliged to investigate the complaint, and this could lead to a court case, the BBC’s Milton Nkosi in Johannesburg says.
On Monday, DA spokesman Solly Malatsi said the papers were filed at a police station in Cape Town to “initiate a criminal investigation into the allegation”.
“The charges laid against Jordaan and Oliphant include fraud as well as corruption under Section 3 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act,” he said.
He alleged that Mr Jordaan, the head of South Africa’s bidding committee in 2007, and Mr Oliphant, the president of the South African Football Association (Safa) at the time, instructed officials from world football governing body Fifa to authorise the payment of $10m to Concacaf (North‚ Central American and Caribbean Association Football).
Mr Malatsi said the party decided to act after Sports Minister Fikile Mbabula said an official investigation into the allegations had not been opened because there had been no such request.
Earlier this year, US investigators alleged that much of the $10m ended up in the pockets of former Fifa Vice-President Jack Warner.
Mr Warner – who denies any wrongdoing – has been indicted by US authorities on charges of bribery and racketeering.
Mr Jordaan is currently the president of Safa, and mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape province.
