Danny rejects claims Safa election illegal

Danny Jordaan has denied allegations that the SA Football Association (Safa) elective congress in which he stood unopposed to be re-elected Safa president on Saturday was illegal.

Jordaan’s sole opponent in the election at the Sandton Convention Centre‚ former referee Andile “Ace” Ncobo‚ walked out of the conference, claiming he had been threatened after his attempts to have the congress halted on grounds of various Safa statutes not having been obeyed was unsuccessful.

Jordaan won a second five-year term by 236‚ or 95.12%, of the 246 votes‚ with two voting against the former 2010 World Cup Organising Committee chief executive‚ one vote spoilt‚ and the remaining 10 either having abstained or being absent.

Asked to respond to Ncobo’s allegation that the election was illegal‚ Jordaan was initially angry at the question.

“No‚ no‚ no. You guys [the media] must stop [this] nonsense‚” Jordaan said.

“It’s nonsense. Absolute nonsense. And you only do it to football. And why do you do that?”

It was pointed out to Jordaan that Ncobo had made the allegations.

“No‚ but some of you actually wrote as if it’s true. And it’s nonsense,” he said.

“Here you are‚ witness to the election. You are sitting in the room. You see for yourself.

“You have in this room the electoral committee. Some of these men are senior advocates.

“They have acted as judges in the supreme court in this country.

“In this room we have a representative from Fifa.

“So it’s your choice. You can pick whose opinion you want to listen to.

“You listen to a supreme court judge‚ you listen to the Fifa representative‚ or you listen to an opinion that is not based on anything.

“That is your choice. “And as journalists you have the right.

“You have the pen‚ and you write what you like – and we grant you that license.

“This is a transparent process in front of you. It’s not on hearsay.

“And where people raise issues, we step back to say that we don’t want a discredited election. On Friday, there was an attempt to stop this election.

“It was dismissed by the court. And the court said proceed.

“What else do you want?“

Safa had initially called an elective conference for March 24.

An urgent application was brought by three local football associations from Safa’s Waterberg Region at the Johannesburg High Court on Friday morning‚ which was struck off the roll.

Among Ncobo’s objections were that the nominees list was released by Safa nine days before the congress‚ not 14 days‚ as stipulated in the Safa statutes.

He and his backers have said that the electoral committee was handpicked by Jordaan‚ not elected‚ after the previous committee’s tenure expired in August.

– TimesLIVE