JOHANNESBURG – The Safa elections will go ahead next week Saturday if the organisation has their way, even though Ace Ncobo’s statement hinted that they ought to at least be postponed by six months to adhere to the electoral code.
Safa met on Thursday to finalise the matter of putting together the electoral committee after Ncobo and Safa president Danny Jordaan signed an agreement following the mediation of Fifa envoy Phillip Chiyangwa.
Fifa roped in the Cosafa president to serve as an arbitrator on the matter, after Ncobo raised a number of discrepancies that Safa allegedly committed leading up to the elections, which saw him go as far as to say that Fifa must put Safa under administration.
“It was on the basis of this understanding that the agreement stipulates, inter alia, that before any elective congress can be held, an electoral committee must be elected in accordance with the electoral code,” Ncobo said in a statement.
“The electoral code specifies that the electoral committee is elected in an ordinary congress six months before an elective congress, and that this prescribed constitutional imperative provides no room for deviation.
“Fifa also noted the various individuals and members who were effectively disenfranchised and labelled ineligible by persons who were not empowered to make such pronouncements, as only the electoral committee can do so.
“The establishment of the electoral committee and granting it the statutory six months period will enable all those who may have complaints relating to the electoral process to have a quasi-judicial body, as provided for in the electoral code, to which they can table such complaints.
“The electoral code also prescribes the election of an Electoral Appeal Committee as the final arbiter on all matters not dealt with by the electoral committee to the satisfaction of any individual or member who made such a submission.”
That undertaking is probably why Ncobo withdrew from running in the elections as it could open the door for the people who were deemed ineligible.
But that door could be shut by Safa’s act to appoint an electoral committee to oversee the elections next week.
Chiyangwa was non-committal on whether the elections would go ahead next week, only saying that the elections can’t go ahead without the appointment of an electoral committee.
What the Zimbabwean official could categorically speak on was that he was the right man to act as the mediator on the matter, even though he is close with Jordaan as the pair played an influential role in getting Ahmad Ahmad elected as Caf president last year.
“First and foremost, I have no beef with any South African,” Chiyangwa said. “How can I end up having a problem with someone like Ace, who I don’t know? To start with, if Danny Jordaan, someone I know, has a problem with anyone – my advice to all the presidents in the Cosafa region is ‘Please don’t fight with your own people. Let’s not have those fights’.
“That’s my first approach. Each time I see a president having problems with a party in their own country, my first port of call is that ‘Please stop the fights because they don’t help football grow’.
“I came here with a clear conscience because I needed the two of them. I have resolved this problem, but now the two of them must work this relationship going forward.
“That’s very important for me. Remember I am the boss for this region. I run 14 countries. Nobody can come here and do better than I can do…
“Please don’t forget that I am the Cosafa president, and I am Caf’s vice-president.”
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