Jordaan firmly in Safa power seat

Ria Ledwaba talked a good game ahead of Saturday’s South African Football Association presidential elections and her fans danced a merry dance outside the Sandton Convention Centre where the elective congress took place.

But she found out that shifting 70-year-old Danny Jordaan out of the Safa hot seat will be done on his terms only. Jordaan has such a stranglehold over the association that he got 186 votes to Ledwaba’s 27, the equivalent of an absolute hammering on the field of play.

Jordaan has been in charge since 2013 and even the Jennifer Ferguson rape allegation in 2016 was not enough to get him suspended from his post at the time, or from being re-elected as president the following year.

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This allegation will always cast a shadow over Jordaan’s character though not, apparently, over his suitability to lead Safa.

The Safa president likes to wax lyrical about all Safa has done for women’s football, while Bafana Bafana’s ongoing struggles have also not given Jordaan pause for thought about his future.

He has said he will step down in 2026 and has promised a succession plan for someone to take over. But only time will tell if the Safa president is true to his word.