Safa boss Danny Jordaan fails to have fraud case struck off the roll

South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan and his co-accused have failed to have their case struck off the roll.

Jordaan, alongside Safa chief financial officer (CFO) Gronie Hluyo and businessman Trevor Neethling, appeared before the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Palm Ridge on Tuesday.

Jordaan and Hluyo applied to have the case struck off the roll, citing unreasonable delays under Section 342(a) of the Criminal Procedure Act.

Danny Jordaan wants case struck from roll

During Tuesday’s proceedings, Advocate Norman Arendse, representing Jordaan and Hluyo, sought a costs order due to what he described as “unreasonable delays” in the case.

“Alternatively, we also ask that the matter be removed from the roll because a complainant has already been lodged with the DPCI [Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation] Judge in relation to the conduct of the investigating officer [Captain Magano] in this case arising from the search-and-seizure which took place on the 8th of March this year and also a complainant against my learned friend, the prosecutor.

“These matters will take time and we submit that any reasonable person would expect that it will result inevitably with a delay,” he told the court.

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The lawyer highlighted two ongoing applications before the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

The first seeks to set aside the warrants of arrest issued on 4 April, alleging that the investigating officer failed to disclose certain information when securing the warrants from a magistrate.

Arendse alleged that the police only responded to this application more than three months late, arguing that the matter is unlikely to be heard until the third or fourth term of the judiciary next year due to a congested court roll.

“This prosecution cannot proceed until that matter is decided.”

Watch the case below:

The second application involves an interdict filed by the accused to prevent their arrests.

This case was scheduled for 14 November, but Jordaan and Hluyo were arrested the day before the hearing.

“There was an aborted attempt to bring it on the 11th so the investigating officer was aware that this application was being brought instead he preempted that by then effecting the arrest and accused one and three on the 13th, which to a large extent cut the accused one and three off below the knees because they couldn’t proceed with their urgent application.”

State responds

State prosecutor Moagi Malebati criticised the defence for going into the merits of the case.

“The applicants’ act of delving into the merits at this stage is a clear tactic aimed at confusing the court as well as a tactic to circumvent the trial procedure.

“The applicants are challenged to allow the proper trial of the matter wherein they will have ample opportunity to test and disprove the state’s evidence. It is a futile exercise to attack the state’s evidence at this stage,” he said.

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Malebati disclosed that during the investigations, both Jordaan and Hluyo had provided warning statements outlining their defenses against the allegations.

“However, their defenses and reasons were found to be inadequate hence their subsequent arrest,” the prosecutor told the court.

“The application by applicants one and three is also premised on the same reasons that were advanced in their warning statements and should on that basis be equally dismissed.”

Application dismissed

Magistrate Sheron Soko-Rantao dismissed the Section 342(a) application, ruling that the court lacked jurisdiction.

“Applying this section to these proceedings means that the two high court matters which accused one and three are referring to are not in this forum. Whatever that delays this court must pertain to this forum,” she ruled.

Earlier, the state’s application to have Arendse recused from the case over alleged conflict of interest was dismissed by the magistrate.

The case has been postponed to 7 February 2025.

Danny Jordaan charges

Jordaan, Hluyo and Neethling have been charged with fraud and theft for allegedly misusing R1.3 million of the association’s funds for personal gain.

The three men are currently each out on R20 000 bail.

Despite the serious allegations, Jordaan will not be stepping aside, according to Safa.

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