JOHANNESBURG – The Safa elections that were scheduled for this Saturday have been postponed following an impromptu meeting held by president Danny Jordaan and his national executive members on Tuesday afternoon.
No new date has been set yet, and it is likely that it will be six months from now – an outcome Ace Ncobo, a previous presidential candidate, had been pushing for.
These elections were cast in doubt last week when Ncobo wrote to Fifa, and the world football governing body sent envoy Philip Chiyangwa, who is also the Zimbabwe FA president, to mediate an agreement to stop the mudslinging between incumbent Jordaan and initial challenger Ncobo.
Ncobo had been adamant that Safa had violated its own statutes by sidelining other potential candidates like former Bafana Bafana captain Lucas Radebe, ex-national team coach Shakes Mashaba and businessman Tokyo Sexwale from running.
He’s also written to Fifa to point out the fact that there was no electoral committee after the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) withdrew from overseeing the elections because “Safa did not have its house in order” ahead of the congress.
Safa fought tooth and nail to avoid changing the date, which had already been brought forward from September to March this year – another issue Ncobo said was a “gross violation”.
The association finally relented on Tuesday, and will now have to inform Fifa and restart the entire process of selecting an electoral committee, and give potential presidential candidates a fair chance instead of dismissing them by pointing out their ineligible status.
The process, according to the Safa rulebook, should take at least six months. Jordaan had received 52 nominations, while Ncobo had managed just one.
The incumbent was set to be elected unopposed, but Ncobo was not about to give up without a fight, and had also suggested he received more than the one nomination as had been claimed by “disgraced” audit firm KPMG last month.
Ncobo last week agreed to withdraw from the presidency, but only if Jordaan restarted the process, which he failed to do – hence the push for the elections to be cancelled.
It’s certainly a huge victory for Ncobo, who is hell-bent on removing Jordaan from football’s top administrative seat before the end of the year.
@superjourno