JOHANNESBURG - World football governing body Fifa could be asked to step in to save the SA Football Association’s presidential elections later this month.
This was revealed by Safa chief executive Dennis Mumble late on Monday following a dramatic weekend in which Ace Ncobo, the challenger to incumbent Danny Jordaan, claimed the elections on March 24 would not be possible without a body to oversee the polls after the withdrawal of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
Mumble has since threatened legal action against the IEC for what he says is a breach of contract between them and Safa. He said the association had still not heard from the IEC even after the electoral body confirmed to the press and Ncobo, in writing, that it would no longer be able to assist Safa.
“We had a scenario during the 2009 elections where both Irvin Khoza and Danny Jordaan stepped down from running for presidency and Fifa had to show us the way forward,” Mumble explained.
"We are prepared as Safa to allow them to oversee the elections because it is a must that we have an independent electoral body seeing that one that had a contract has withdrawn for reasons unknown to us, except the candidate."
Kirsten Nematandani surprisingly became the Safa president in 2009 after Khoza and Jordaan, who eventually succeed him in 2013, withdrew.
“As far as we are concerned, everything is above board and the members had elected the IEC to oversee the process on March 24, but this is no longer the case. They have gone into hiding now and we haven’t heard anything since this claim that the we violated the Safa constitution - yet there is no evidence of this.”
'Gross violation'
Ncobo has accused Safa of “gross violation” of several rules in the Fifa as well as CAF laws by shifting the date of the elections (brought forward from September), failing to send him the meeting pack as he is now an eligible candidate and supplying him with the audited financial statements of the association.
Mumble maintained that it was a “unanimous decision” by the association members to move the date and not wait until after this year’s Fifa World Cup in Russia because Bafana had not managed to qualify.
Ncobo, who received a single nomination while Jordaan amassed 52 for the presidency, will hold a press conference this morning to not only reveal his manifesto should he be elected later this month, but will apparently “expose” his opponent for mismanagement.
This is despite saying that he will be in the Eastern Cape tending to his cows when the elections are held in Johannesburg.
Jordaan has seldom spoken out, leaving the Football Transformation Forum (FTF) to do the talking for him as part of his campaign for a second term in office. The overwhelming nominations have even led the FTF to declare the elections over even before they began, but Ncobo remains defiant.
His single nomination has opened the door for him to question the process, and write to both Fifa and the IEC as he seeks to have the March 24 elections postponed. He could also reveal his backers for the Safa presidency today.
@superjourno