Nafsa asks Jordaan not to run for Safa presidency

In the letter, Makunga blames Jordaan for the lack of progress in South African football and asks him not to run for Safa presidency again.

Makunga’s letter comes on the back of Safa blocking candidates from running for Safa’s top job on March 24.

In the letter Makunga questions the spending of monies generated through the 2010 Soccer World and the development of Women’s football in South Africa.

Nafsa’s open letter:  

Open Letter to SAFA Sitting President, Dr. Danny Jordaan

Dear Comrade President Jordaan,

I call you Comrade President as an honest recognition of your illustrious contribution to the struggle for liberation of the once oppressed African child; the transformation of sport and how you steered the ship as the Chief Executive Officer of the Local Organizing Committee for 2010 FIFA World Cup.

These are accolades under which the love and support you enjoyed from the people of South Africa was conceived.

Ironically, the organisation I proudly represent, was one of your public backers in the last Presidential elections. The irony about it is that our decision to back you as the Presidential Candidate for Safa was preceded by a national public poll wherein you came tops from those independently generated votes. To refresh your memory, I have extracted a media statement that we issued in that regard.

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It reads:

“Football loyalists give Danny Jordaan the nod………South Africa’s football loving people have added their voice to the fiercely contested race between two SAFA Presidential candidates, Dr. Danny Jordaan and Mr. Mandla Mazibuko. According to the national online poll ran by the National African Football Supporters’ Association (NAFSA), the country’s football faithful gave Dr. Danny Jordaan the nod ahead of the current 2ND elected Vice President of SAFA Mr. Mandla Mazibuko.

On Saturday 28th September this year, at SAFA’s Elective Conference, SAFA regions and members are expected to deliver to South Africans, the man they believe equals the task of taking the Association to greater heights.

“NAFSA is an organization which was founded under strong ideals of a democratically and transparently run business of football development. When the nominees for the SAFA Presidential Elections were officially announced, we immediately ran an online national election and afforded a rare opportunity to South Africa’s football loving loyalists, to have their say on who should lead Safa? This we did because we appreciated the need for football loyalists to have an independent voice in the affairs of football” explained Nafsa Secretary-General Siyabulela Makunga.

The results show that out of the total votes received, 72.5% of South Africans believe that Dr. Danny Jordaan is the right man to lead Safa, while Mr. Mandla Mazibuko collected a total of 22.5% votes. 5% of the voters would have preferred a totally different candidate.”

It needs no rocket scientist to know that ascending to a leadership position of the stature of a Safa President, is requisite of an overwhelming support from the owners of such an organisation, the People of South Africa. Any decision to the contrary is tantamount to “betrayal” of those who have placed their hopes in you Comrade President, when they rallied behind you in two consecutive elections for the same position a decade ago.

I am aware that some within your executive, blinded by the trappings of power mongering, disagree with us on the issue of who owns Safa.  They don’t agree becuase they have turned Safa to a (PTY) LTD owned by an elitist leadership that is a separate detachment from the owners of the game, particularly its key stakeholders. It is a (PTY) LTD that is short of transparency, cooperative governance, and professionalism, decisive and visionary leadership. Safa has grown to be a beacon of shame that has become synonymous to scandals, maladministration, tribalism, infighting, and an ugly factional political battlefield.

In the hope that there is still an iota of conscience in you Cde President, and in the spirit of celebrating the Year of Isithwalandwe Tata Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, I would like to draw your conscience to his words of wisdom directed to the then “ignorant” apartheid regime, that:  “You may succeed in delaying, but never in preventing the transition of South Africa to a democracy.”

Just like the winds of Change blew in the Fifa corridors and removed Sepp Blatter after decades at the helm of Fifa which he had brought to it’s knees; just like the winds of change blew away Issa Hayatou from the Caf Presidency after decades of rotten leadership; those winds of change have now reached Safa House where you have been at the helm for decades either as CEO or President, both positions having been used to entrench your regrettable personal ownership of this national asset.

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Madiba’s warning to the apartheid regime was in recognition of the will of the people.

Only a dictator can ignore a call as overwhelming as the one released by an independent national public survey, suggesting that you make way for Mr. Tokyo Sexwale whose stripes in leadership are unquestionable.

The people have spoken Comrade President, it’s time to go! Have conscience and step aside with dignity or go down in shame. In all honesty, it will be morally inappropriate for you to stand for the position of  Safa President. This time, from the high of a poll above 70% in 2013 which gave you a resounding mandate, all that you could gather – which we suspect were votes from your very elaborate patronage network – was a paltry 9966 votes which is 1.2% of the total vote!!! This means, 98.8% of South Africans DO NOT WANT YOU ANYMORE!

It is simple Comrade President, it is your dignity and honour that you must protect, not those parading your name for they know it guarantees them their next buttered bread. It pains us to know that no leadership debate in South Africa can unfold without bringing in material personal gains into the picture.

We are saying step aside because you and your fellow leaders have failed South Africans Comrade President!

If you didn’t us would not be asking all these important questions:-

What have you done to restore the glory of Bafana Bafana?

What tangible football development gains can you show for the 2010 World Cup Legacy Fund?

How far have you gone with developing women football in South Africa?

Are you in total control of football in South Africa?

Why do sponsors prefer your Special Member, the PSL, ahead of the mother body?

What have you done to support grassroots and schools football in South Africa?

Besides a theoretical blueprint, can you point out tangible programmes and projects aimed at unearthing raw football talent from the outskirts of this country, kwaNtuzuma, Madikwe, Malamlela, Colesberg, Qoboqobo and Berdasdorp? Do you even know where that is Comrade President?

Have you resolved your issues with the FBI? Is your integrity intact? Why have you not told the people of South Africa that the Fifa Ethics Committee told you that you can’t stand for the Fifa Council due to alleged complicity in football bribery and corruption? What makes you think that it is ok to stand for Safa Presidency when the global football authority deemed you ineligible? Way statement are you making about South Africa in that regard, that it’s a country that deserves leaders who are rejected elsewhere?  Can the people of South Africa trust you?

Can you set the record straight on your rape allegations Comrade President? After weeks of silence, you chose to issue a muted statement via lawyers instead of taking the public into confidence. What about the millions of women players, coaches, administrators and referees who look up to you for protection from abuse in what is still regarded as a men’s sport?

What have you done to support and protect our football legends, the masters?

What have you ever done for the benefit of the spiritual owners of the game, the supporters?

Is there evidence of water-tight regulations protecting our players, our national assests and the referees?

Are there any consequences to those officials of SAFA who have brought the name of the association into disrepute?

Beyond the few individuals who happen to hold positions of power in the regions, to whom you have allegedly made promises of cars in a scandalous vote-buying exercise, are the club owners and football people in the regions entirely happy with your leadership Mr. President?

Do they get the same treatment and support as other leaders in the NEC or they are only used to secure positions in Safa?

Is Parliament happy with how you are running the Association?

Have you been honest with the public about the finances of Safa? Why have you not told us that your auditors KPMG, after allegedly being tired of risking their own credibility by continuing to endorse cooked financials, have dumped Safa?

Comrade President, there are many questions than answers. It is time to go! Do it in memory of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Do it for the people of South Africa! Or leave to regret not taking our free advice.

This is the voice of the people. This is the moral authority of the game, the fans.

Siyabulela Makunga is a Secretary General of the National African Football Supporters Association.

NAFSA is a unitary and national representative body of all football supporters whose primary aim is to mobilize support for all national football teams while creating an enabling environment for football loyalists to make a meaningfully contribution to the transformation and development agenda of football.

NAFSA created and runs the National Football Consultative Forum (NFCF), a process and platform created for the sole objective of affording the football community with a conduit to submit their views.