Did magic clinch 2010 World Cup bid?

Link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041001/80/f3q9r.html


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African traditional healer says she and her dead ancestors played a key role in winning South Africa the 2010 World Cup bid, but organisers short-changed her, a newspaper has reported.


Anna Nxumalo, a traditional healer who lives east of Johannesburg, told the Star newspaper that officials from the South African Football Association visited her a few days before the results of the 2010 World Cup bid were announced.


"They asked me to predict if South Africa would win the bid," she said. "I threw the bones and spoke to my ancestors. They told me we would win."


Traditional healers say that asking for a prediction is much the same as asking for something to happen, the paper says.


SAFA President Molefi Oliphant said he was surprised and shocked by the suggestion. As far as he knew, no one at SAFA had consulted a healer about the bid, he said.


SAFA has offered 7.5 million rand (645,000 pound) bonuses to the three South African soccer officials who helped secure the bid. Traditional healing organisations say Nxumalo deserves more than the 50 rand (4.30 pounds) she says received for her services.