Volunteers feel 'Afconned'

The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations finals have come and gone, but some of the volunteers have yet to be paid.

The Local Organising Committee is putting pressure on the municipalities that hosted the tournament to pay the volunteers.

Every volunteer was supposed to receive R200 a day for 25 days.

The chief communications officer of the Local Organising Committee, Sipho Sithole, confirmed that some volunteers have not been paid.

"It's something that is beyond our control, because when the Treasury released money for the tournament, part of it went straight into the coffers of the municipalities, which included the volunteers' remuneration.

"The only money that came to the [Local Organising Committee] was used for operations during the tournament. It is true some of the volunteers have not been paid, but we are engaging the municipalities to process their payments as a matter of urgency.

"I can confirm that volunteers in Johannesburg were paid by the municipality last week.

"Payments for the volunteers who worked in Durban and Nelson Mandela Bay municipalities were processed [on Monday].

"One of the issues that caused the whole delay is the number of days worked by all the volunteers. Some of them worked for 25 days, others 18 and some far less. They will get their monies," said Sithole.

A volunteer from Rustenburg, who asked not to be identified, said: "This has been a painful experience."

He said volunteers were routinely told the money they were owed "will be deposited on Friday" - but it had yet to appear.