Firm in his objective to see Danny Jordaan relinquish his power as South African Football Association (Safa) president, nemesis Ace Ncobo has again written to world football governing body Fifa pleading with them to put the association under administration.
Cosafa head Philip Chiyangwa was sent to South Africa as a mediator by Fifa to broker a deal which Ncobo said was to allow Safa to “self correct” and change the date for the elections.
Former Premier Soccer League referee Ncobo, in his capacity as a nominee for the presidency ahead of the March 24 elections, was adamant on Saturday that the organisation has “shown Fifa the middle finger” by insisting the elective congress will go ahead on Saturday.
He’d written to them before, raising a red flag on how Safa had not done things by the book in preparing for its elections, such as bringing them forward from September to later this month and not giving potential candidates enough time.
It was on Wednesday night that Ncobo signed an agreement with Fifa to withdraw from contesting football’s top administrative seat in the country on condition that Safa begin the process from scratch.
This would have meant holding an ordinary congress and then setting a new date for the elections - six months down the line. Safa would also need to appoint an electoral committee after the Independent Election Commission (IEC) pulled the plug on overseeing the process scheduled for this coming weekend.
Ncobo was responsible for the IEC asking to be excused as he had also written to them to suggest Safa were in “gross violation” of its own electoral code according to the statutes.
The association, however, has said in several statements last week that March 24 remains the date where incumbent Jordaan is likely to be voted for a second term.
“I have written to Fifa again to say they (Safa) did not adhere to the agreement. I have asked Fifa to place them under administration,” said Ncobo yesterday.
“Before I can get a response to that, I cannot move - my hands are tied. They are aware this is a matter of urgency.
“My letter to them states that I am trying to exhaust all internal avenues and this is my final step before I look at other limited options outside dealing with this internally.
“I did not sign an agreement with Danny, but Fifa and Safa is showing them the middle finger.
“My sole objective has been to get Danny out of Safa, and I don’t care who replaces him. I believe he is unfit for this office.”
Had Safa pressed pause on the elections and restarted the process all over again, Ncobo said this would have opened the door on more suitable candidates for the presidency like former Bafana Bafana skipper Lucas Radebe, businessman Tokyo Sexwale or ex-national team coach Shakes Mashaba.
Radebe and Sexwale were told they did not qualify to run for the elections because they did not belong to any Safa structures, while Mashaba was threatened with legal action by the Legends and Masters Association, of which he is a member.
Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana was the first to confirm he would take on Jordaan in the race for the Safa presidency, but he too was ineligible. The former Safa deputy president and national executive committee member was fired by the organisation in 2014 and has not been able to win his way back in.
On Wednesday Nonkonyana filed a motion with the South Gauteng High Court to interdict the elections.
“I cannot rely on Chief because he has not exhausted all internal avenues. What if the court strikes out his interdict because of that? What anybody else does has nothing to do with me. I have my methods and they have been carefully considered,” said Ncobo.