Safa House’s Ria-Danny bruising battle averted
What was expected to be a bruising Safa leadership battle has been averted by the mother body's re-appointment of Ria Ledwaba to her former position.
Four months after her fallout with South African Football Association (Safa) president Dr Danny Jordaan, Ria Ledwaba is back in her former position at the football mother body.
This follows a recommendation by long-serving football administrator Natasha Tsichlas. Tsichlas had just been appointed to Ledwaba’s former position and the ink had hardly dried on her acceptance that she recommended that Ledwaba be reinstated to avoid costly legal matters.
Tsichlas, a former owner of one of the country’s most successful clubs, Mamelodi Sundowns, said she was quite happy to have been able to convince the NEC of Safa to accept her recommendation that they bring back Ledwaba.
“I have always believed that such lengthy and costly legal matters should be avoided by the mother body in the interest of the advancement of football in the country. The money that would have used in the arbitration battles will be better used in advancing football in our 52 regions,” she said.
Ledwaba along with Gay Mokoena, both vice-presidents to Jordaan, were fired in June. Mokoena had written what was said to be a critical report on the leadership style of Jordaan which was leaked before being tabled at the NEC of the association, leading to a flurry of insults back and forth at Safa House.
Ledwaba’s ‘crime’ was to write a letter to sports minister Nathi Mthethwa and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), urging the sports ministry and Sascoc to intervene and bring some sanity to Safa House as officials and NEC members were insulting each other left, right and centre.
Considered a queen of football in SA and former owner of the defunct Ria Stars, Ledwaba was then accused of flouting the football mother body’s constitution by taking what was described as ‘internal Safa matters’ to outsiders without first allowing the issues to play themselves out at the NEC meeting, an accusation Ledwaba denied.
Ledwaba claimed she had first written to Jordaan but was not acknowledged, let alone replied to, and then she was accused of having ambitions of becoming the next Safa president. When the NEC meeting finally sat, Ledwaba and Mokoena were relieved of their positions.
Since Jordaan took over as Safa president, he has apparently been at loggerheads with almost everybody, ranging from former president Kirsten Nematandani, affiliate body South African Schools Football Association, president Shoes Mazibuko, former top referee Andile ‘Ace’ Ncobo, and Premier Soccer League chairperson Dr Irvin ‘Iron Duke’ Khoza. He also fired several CEOs in a short space of time.
Safa CEO Advocate Tebogo Motlanthe had defended the decision to fire Ledwaba and Mokoena, saying the pair had violated the constitution of Safa.
“This is more in the fact that Fifa too does not allow third-party interventions on internal football matters,” he said. “We strongly believe Ledwaba should have exhausted all internal remedies before jumping the gun.”
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