The South African Football Association (Safa) has been accused of falsifying its 2018 financial statements to reflect a rosy bank balance - when it has a deficit of R100m.
Several sources close to Safa told the Sunday Times that the football governing body inserted an amount of $10m (R148m) as money in the bank, when this amount refers to a donation made by Safa during the 2010 Fifa World Cup, which Safa claims the sports, arts & culture department undertook to repay but hasn't.
The department has denied it gave any such undertaking, and the only person who Safa claims can verify a department promise - former department director-general Vernie Petersen - died in February 2011.
Safa did not respond to questions, despite undertaking to do so.
The $10m in question was the subject of controversy when it emerged that it was given to executives of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association of Football (CONCACAF), including its controversial former president Jack Warner, as a bribe to secure votes in the 2010 World Cup process.
In order to be considered a going concern, Safa must provide assurances that it has enough funds to cover expenses.
Further contributing to the dire state of the organisation's coffers is a claim that a broadcasting deal signed with Siyaya TV has been scrapped, costing Safa R450m in revenue.
In 2014 Siyaya TV signed a six-year deal worth R1bn with Safa, giving it the rights to broadcast all national soccer team games. But Siyaya TV never took off, after failing to obtain a licence from the communications authority, Icasa.
Siyaya TV founder Aubrey Tau declined to comment.
Claims of financial irregularity have been backed up by former Safa vice-president Lucas Nhlapo, who said the football body had manipulated its financial statements.
"Safa did not give an accurate account of the state of their finances for the 2017-18 financial year," said Nhlapo.
"They cooked the books and have been working without a budget. They are spending money on a false premise put in the financial statement. The financial statement says we are going to get broadcast money and we will get $10m from government, and neither one of these major revenue streams materialised," said Nhlapo.
"It is wrong and it is fraud because nobody in government or from Fifa confirmed that the money would be received."
Alec Moemi, director-general in the department of sports, arts & culture, laughed off Safa's claim of being owed $10m by the government.
"Former [sports] minister [Fikile] Mbalula was the first person to handle the matter. He was told by the Safa executive that apparently government committed that Safa must pay $10m to the African diaspora in the Caribbean. In return the government would then pay Safa that money.
"We inquired to see whether indeed such a commitment was made. Of all the government officials that interacted with the Safa executive at the time, none of them could confirm such a commitment.
"We are yet to see a signed letter from government to Safa or Fifa making such a commitment."
Moemi said Safa claimed the only person who had knowledge of the $10m commitment was Petersen.
A Safa insider who spoke on condition of anonymity said the football body had flouted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which are also enshrined in South African law.
"We subscribe to the accounting standard and principles of the IFRS. One of the key principles is that you cannot state matters that are false in your financial statements."
Nhlapo, a former chair of Safa's audit committee, said: "This is fraud. In order to be a going concern, and that is a key statement in your financials, you must have your assets equalling your liability."
Nhlapo said Safa had brought forward its election last year to get rid of him and fellow former vice-president Elvis Shisana.
"Danny [Jordaan, Safa president] knew I was going to raise these things. That is why the financials were presented at a later stage, after I was gone.
"They also didn't want Dennis [Mumble, a former Safa CEO who resigned last year] there for the financials.
"As the accounting officer, that entire year fell under him. He was still in Safa by the end of June last year. He was supposed to sign that stuff off."
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