South Africa leadership 'approved' World Cup payment

The highest levels of South African government approved a $10-million payment that US investigators suspect was a bribe to get the 2010 World Cup, media reports said Friday. Then president Thabo Mbeki and foreign minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma approved the payment which the authorities again insisted Friday was for a legitimate development project in the Caribbean. The new revelations emerged as FIFA remained at the eye of a corruption storm after seven of its officials were arrested last week