Former employees of the local organising committee of the soccer World Cup have accused the committee of shoddy treatment and failing to pay promised post-tournament bonuses.

A month before the World Cup, the committee's chief executive, Danny Jordaan reportedly said that the "2010 team" could expect big bonuses after the soccer fest.

The bonuses, he said in a May interview with the Financial Mail, would be performance related.

"It's been written into their contracts and budgeted for."

Committee spokesman Jermaine Craig yesterday said the delay in paying the bonuses was because the committee was still appraising performances and the employees should receive their bonuses today.

"The incentive scheme for the World Cup organising committee South Africa stipulates that bonuses for staff will be paid in December."

However, management had made an effort to ''accelerate the incentive payments'', Craig added.

Though Jordaan has been praised for organising a successful World Cup, his committee is faced with labour disputes , one of which is scheduled to be heard by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) soon.

In July, Maite Perez, a Spanish translator and interpreter, won a CCMA case against the committee, which she accused of engineering her constructive dismissal. Perez said she was subjected to "horrendous working conditions", and said the committee frustrated" her by appointing her as a front-desk co-ordinator with a ''false'' promise to promote her when "more suitable positions would open up" before the tournament.

Committee employees said they had not been told about the imminent payment of the bonuses .

One former employee, who asked not to be named for fear of jeopardising her job prospects, said she was disappointed that, after serving her country during the World Cup, her life was falling apart.

"I am still unemployed and have had to put my house on the market to settle debts."

According to media reports, world soccer governing body Fifa is facing an estimated R1-billion in lawsuits over unpaid bills.

This includes an estimated R500-million demanded by host cities for World Cup-related work before the tournament, and about R240-million for the buses that transported fans to the stadiums.

Craig said he could not comment on claims against Fifa, but the local organising committee was in talks with host cities about a settlement.

"[In terms of] our stadium-use agreement with them, we will in addition pay host cities a percentage of the ticket-sales revenue for the matches at their stadiums, once the ticketing sales and revenue reconciliation process has been finalised," he said, adding that the R500-million figure was "way outside the settlement agreements".

He said the committee would settle a R90-million police claim for stadium security "shortly".