Bid to halt Safa elections intensifies

Safa, however, insists the congress is going ahead as planned, with current preident Danny Jordaan the only candidate.

Former Safa vice-president Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana has already gone public with his motion to interdict the elections filed in the South Gauteng High Court.

Safa’s eThekwini region are also understood to have filed a motion, along with the South African Schools Football Association (Sasfa), and even one of Safa’s own vice-presidents.

“Stage one is stopping the congress,” said Premier Soccer League general manager Ace Ncobo yesterday, who was the only other nomination for Safa president, and maintains he only accepted the nomination to try and stop the election from taking place.

“Stage two is to remove Danny Jordaan from Safa house, and stage three is to get the football family to come together without anyone being excluded.”

Ncobo laid out a long list of reasons at a press conference last week as to why the Safa elective congress on Saturday goes against its own constitution. This included the fact that proper procedure had not been followed in calling this early election, and in deciding on an electoral committee.

His efforts appeared to have worked as the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) pulled out of the congress, and as Ncobo and Jordaan signed a memorandum of agreement, overseen by Fifa, on Thursday.

The interpretation of this agreement has differed wildly, however, with Safa claiming the election is going ahead as planned and that Ncobo, as he has now withdrawn as a presidential candidate, no longer has any say in the matter.

Ncobo, however, dismisses this suggestion.

“For them to say I don’t have a say is stupid, because I am a co-signatory in an agreement that is being breached,” he said.

“The document lists most of the violations, it is an admission of guilt.”

Ncobo says Safa agreed to amend Article 21.4 of its statutes which allows voting rights to outgoing executive committee members.

“This amendment must be done and this takes 90 days,” he said.

“More importantly the agreement says an electoral committee must be elected in compliance with the electoral code. This starts with the first step of electing an electoral committee, six months before the elections.”

Safa released a statement on Sunday saying “the elections will go ahead as agreed by the Safa Congress on Saturday, 24 March 2018 and no other member, outside or within football, can decide otherwise … the continued talk of Ace Ncobo is not an issue as the former referee is not a presidential candidate anymore as he officially withdrew during a meeting brokered by a Fifa representative and Cosafa President Dr Phillip Chiyangwa.

“According to that agreement which was reached on Thursday, 15 March 2018; nothing in that accord talks of the elections being postponed. The Safa NEC met on Thursday to put together an Electoral Committee as prescribed by the Safa Constitution and that committee will monitor and oversee Saturday’s elections.”