Johannesburg  - Will South Africa be the scene of ritualized slaughter in the run-up to to World Cup next year?

Yes - if traditional leaders in the country have their way.

An organization that represents the country's royal households on special projects is demanding that a cow be slaughtered at each of the 10 World Cup stadiums in South Africa, in keeping with African ancestral beliefs.

"It is important because we need to bless these stadiums. We never had something humongous like this (the World Cup) in this country," Zolani Mkiva, chairman of the Makhonya Royal Trust told German Press Agency dpa.

Slaughtering a beast on the pitch of each stadium after it is completed would be "a kind of warming ceremony," Mkiva, a kubonga or praise-singer to revered former president Nelson Mandela, said.

While it is customary among some of South Africa's cultural groups to sacrifice a beast, either in celebration of a birth, wedding or other happy occasion, or to commemorate a deceased relative, it is not traditional to spill blood at football stadiums.

"As far as I know it has not happened before (at a stadium in South Africa)," said Mkiva, who appears in a World Cup advertisement on television standing in a stadium chanting football's praises. "But it has to be seen in context - we're about to host the world."

Mkiva said the trust had sought a meeting with the World Cup local organizing committee to discuss the proposal.

"I am confident they will accept the proposal," he said.

South Africa has built five stadiums from scratch and is upgrading another five for the World Cup, which is being held in Africa for the first time next year.

The stadiums are all due for completion by December.

Approached for comment on the proposed sacrificial slaughters, , Delia Fischer, spokeswoman for World Cup organizers FIFA told The Citizen newspaper FIFA would have to "conduct research on this." (dpa)