Once the pride of the country when they lifted the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in 1996, our national football team has become the laughing stock of the continent.
Bafana Bafana failed to qualify for the Fifa World Cup in 2014, 2018 and 2022. Their performance on the continent has been as dismal, with no shows at the 2017 and 2021 Afcon tournaments.
This degeneration took place under the leadership of South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan, who is seeking another term as head of the football body. The state of our now lowly ranked team mirrors the poor quality of leadership at the Safa headquarters in Nasrec.
At one stage Jordaan felt it correct for him to head Safa and accept the mayorship of Nelson Mandela Bay at the same time.
The state of our now lowly ranked team mirrors the poor quality of leadership at the Safa
While veteran administrator Ria Ledwaba’s candidacy is welcomed, her plan to announce her presidential challenge at the Nelson Mandela Foundation offices in Houghton was stopped dead in its tracks this week.
The suits at Nasrec, through a recently adopted rule which says hopefuls can only raise their hands 14 days before the election — which falls on June 25 — had threatened her with expulsion if she failed to comply.
Ledwaba and Nomsa Mahlangu, the two women who are challenging Jordaan, could be disqualified from the race simply because they were allegedly not nominated by the regions where they were born — again, a clause that was approved only last month.
Safa previously blocked former Bafana and Leeds United captain Lucas Radebe from running for its presidency through gatekeeping clauses.
Jordaan’s opponents are crying foul at the constitutional amendments, which clearly favour him. Given his track record, what it is clear is that we cannot expect change in Bafana’s fortunes under the current leadership.
If Jordaan and his inner circle could not fix the problems of the national football team in two terms, what hope is there that they will succeed the third time around?
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