JOHANNESBURG – A group of football administrators, including three former national executive members of Safa, are hell-bent on challenging the question of who is eligible to oppose Danny Jordaan in the upcoming elections on March 24.
Announcing themselves yesterday as the National Football Consultative Forum (NFCF), spokesperson Thabo Masombuka said their preferred candidate for the Safa presidency would have been ex-Bafana Bafana captain Lucas Radebe.
But Radebe’s campaign has been stopped dead in its tracks after it emerged that he was ineligible to run for the hot seat because he did not “serve” in the Safa structures.
Shoes Mazibuko, who lost to Jordaan in the previous Safa elections in 2013, Fanyana Sibanyoni and Xolani Mtumtum are all part of a cluster that is pushing for change at Safa House.
Sibanyoni questioned the current Safa leadership and suggested he was kicked out for being vocal against mismanagement.
“We have been told our people are not eligible because they were not voted for by the Safa regions. But who are those regions? It’s their cronies,” said Masombuka. “We want to change the structure of SA football from the bottom up. We are already speaking to the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. We are interfacing with delegates. We want them to understand what the mandate is.”
As part of the newly found forum, Mazibuko would back Radebe for the elections. Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana also wants to challenge Jordaan, but he, too, has been told he is ineligible following his expulsion from Safa in 2014.
“We now have to look at Plan B,” said Masombuka. “The conference must look at this issue of eligibility before the elections can take place. The constitution says Safa serves the interest of football, so this is a dismissive approach. Lucas is part of the football family and has contributed to this country immensely, way better than some of them have. We need to fix this. I think we may have to find another candidate.”
Masombuka said Tokyo Sexwale, who ran for Fifa president two years ago and lost to Sepp Blatter, could be an option with discussions around that still quite premature.
@superjourno
The Star