The President of the South African Football Association, Danny Jordaan, looks set to be elected for a second term when the country’s football governing body holds its elective congress on the 24th of March.
The Football Transformation Forum (FTF) has put its support behind Jordaan with 41 of the 52 Safa regions said to have endorsed him.
FTF has, meanwhile, ruled out both former Safa Vice-president Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana and former Bafana Bafana Captain Lucas Radebe from the running saying the two are ineligible to contest for the presidency as they don’t serve on any Safa structures.
Formed in 2008, just a year before the 2009 elections, the Football Transformation Forum seems to have positioned themselves as kingmakers with candidates it endorses winning in the last two elections of Safa.
In 2009, the FTF had a say in Kirsten Nemantendani being elected president of the association, while in 2013 Danny Jordaan emerged with most Safa regions voting for him.
Now, the FTF has endorsed Jordaan for a second term only a few weeks after Nonkonyana announced that he will stand.
FTF Secretary-General, Mzwandile Maforvhane says as far as they are concerned, the 2018 Safa elections are over as Jordaan who is their preferred candidate will prevail.
“FTF believes the election process is already over, because the Safa regions have already taken a decision on who is going to lead SA soccer. We know for a fact that the coastal and inland regions had separate meetings where they declared their preferred candidate and it was Dr Jordaan.”
Last week, Nonkonyana held a media briefing where he outlined reasons for his campaign saying he decided to stand after he was approached by certain regions.
Nonkonyana hinted that Lucas Radebe might also throw his name in the hat for the Safa presidential position.
Maforvhane says Nonkonyana is ineligible as he was expelled in 2014 and he still owes Safa money.
“First, he was expelled by the Safa regions in 2014 and he has not been reinstated. Secondly, he lost numerous court cases against Safa with costs and still owes it money.”
Maforvhane also says Lucas Radebe doesn’t meet the criteria to stand for Safa presidency.
“We also believe Mr Lucas Radebe was wrongly advised in terms of the role he can play in the development of football in the country. FTF is willing to advice Mr Radebe in case he wants to contribute positively to football in the country.”
There was a show of support for Jordaan at the briefing with a number of Safa NEC members in attendance.
Three of those were also FTF members who represented five Gauteng regions, five Limpopo regions and 31 other regions comprised of Mpumalanga, Western Cape, Northern Cape, Kwazulu-Natal and Western Cape.
Safa NEC member Mxolisi Sibam and Chairperson of Limpopo Safa Maluleke Jack say Jordaan has support of around 41 of the 52.
“The meeting we had in East London, 31 of the 33 regions has declared their support for Dr Jordaan. We are only working on the two and we are positive.”
Maluleke Jack elaborates, “We’ve got five regions in Limpopo and all have met and agreed on the candidature of Dr Jordaan.”
Meanwhile, the South Gauteng High Court will on Monday rule on the appeal made by Nonkonyana to have his expulsion from Safa set aside.
