What happened to the cash is "another story for investigators ... we don't know," The minister said. "We can't account for that."
Giving South Africa’s most detailed response to the allegations, Fikile Mbalula, the sports minister, insisted the money was paid as part of its legacy programme to help develop football in African diasporas.
He said the funds were to be utilised for the Dr João Havelange Centre of Excellence, a football academy in Trinidad and Tobago.
“This is not a bribe but an above board payment duly allocated for an approved programme.
We will therefore await the United States authorities to share with us the basis with which they allege that this was a bribe,” Mr Mbalula said. “We would like to categorically deny that we bribed anyone to secure the rights for the 2010 World Cup.”
The US Department of Justice alleges that the $10 million was used by South Africa to win favour from Warner and other Concacaf voters to back South Africa's bid in 2004.
In the meantime, a few other questions spring to mind.
Why has South Africa's Football Association (Safa) taken such pains to insist that "neither the [Fifa] Secretary General Jerome Valcke nor any other member of Fifa's senior management were involved in the initiation, approval and implementation of the Diaspora project," when a letter from Safa dated 2008 regarding the $10m donation is clearly addressed to Mr Valcke himself?
