While the rest of South Africa celebrates the hosting of a successful World Cup, hundreds of homeowners hoping to cash in on the tournament are left drowning in debt.
Homeowners renovated their houses and bought furniture, linen and cutlery, hoping they would host fans for the World Cup, but did not see a single fan the entire event.
WCS Big Five Promotions signed contracts with people who would act as agents, distributors and with homeowners.
Big Five was not accredited by Match nor were they affiliated to any tourism authority.
National distributors paid R29000, while agents paid a R9500 joining fee.
An estimated 500 national distributors registered with Big Five.
Each homeowner paid a refundable deposit of R500 with the hope of getting R750 a bed per night.
Bafana Masuku, of Orlando West, Soweto, was a registered national distributor who hoped to make a killing from the initiative.
“Our contracts created great expectations, so we spent money in anticipation of big returns . We were informed that there were people who had already booked and were waiting for our houses. We were pressured to do so.”
Read the full story at the Sowetan
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