And by delicately poised, we mean might not go ahead. The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has yet to grant permission for the Chili Peppers to play at FNB Stadium in February. This is sure to piss a lot of people off.

Here is the problem: South Africa will host the 2013 African Nations Cup between January 19 and February 10 and, just as Fifa did during the 2010 World Cup, Caf will take over management of the venues that will host the matches.

The Peppers are scheduled to play on February 2, and the final for the football tournament is scheduled for the same venue eight days later.

Local organising committee CEO, Mvuzo Mbebe, was to write a letter to Caf on Thursday night pleading for the concert to go ahead. He was optimistic that his letter would be a good one:

They (Caf) have a right to say no and at the end of the day they are the owners of the event. I have never been a pessimistic person and I do not think that we will expect a negative response.

The problem with hosting the final elsewhere was that there were contractual obligations in place that could not easily be broken. Mbebe was going to cross his fingers and hope for the best:

I think that if all things were equal, no this situation is not ideal. But in fairness we came in late and we started the process in the beginning of the year. But if people had existing contracts, what else can you do? You cannot just change contracts all willy-nilly.

Reported Business Day:

Questions have been raised about the wisdom of pushing ahead and trying to host a rock concert in the middle of the Nations Cup, given the poor condition of the pitch at the stadium at the moment.

But councillor Chris Vondo, a member of the mayoral committee responsible for community development, said the existing pitch could be removed after the Soweto derby on December 8 and Desso GrassMaster would be laid.

The Desso surface is composed of natural grass combined with artificial fibres, and will cost just under R6m to be installed.

Vondo said they were desperate to generate revenue from streams other than sport, and installing the new surface would resolve the current poor pitch conditions at the venue.

Both Mbebe and Vondo said they were confident there would be enough time to get the new pitch in before the start of the African Nations Cup next year.

Jozi, hopefully Caf will come to your party.

[Source: BDLive]