SA Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan tightened his grip on power at the 30th Ordinary Congress in Sandton which upheld a raft of key constitutional amendments yesterday.
The congress ruled that national executive committee (NEC) members should vote in an elective congress and that the chair of the National Soccer League (NSL) can’t contest for the Safa presidency.
The new amendment passed at the congress holds that Safa vice-presidents can’t be elected by the congress but by the president, in accordance with Confederation of African Football (Caf) and Fifa statutes.
Safa legal eagle Poobalan Govindasamy said the upholding of constitutional amendments was the culmination of work they had been doing since 2018.
“Today was a groundbreaking meeting in that the constitutional amendments process that we embarked on since 2018 was finalised at this meeting,” he said.
“There were three to four amendments from members that were defeated again. That concerns the voting in respect of NEC members — whether the president of the NSL or PSL can become the president of Safa — and that position remains the same because the motion was defeated,” said Govindasamy.
“That motion was defeated by the majority and there were only three members who were favour of it. In so far as the other amendments were concerned, they were groundbreaking because they take the association forward for the next 10 years.”
In other developments, Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe said the association was in good financial shape as it had reported a surplus for the past two years.
“I am happy to report that for the financial years of 2020 and this current one, we are reporting a surplus. For the first break of 2020, we are reporting R54m — which we have already communicated — and for this year we are reporting R1m, which is good for the association.”
Motlanthe said the congress agreed that Safa Tshwane president Ngoako Mohlabeng be suspended pending disciplinary action for not following proper congress protocols.
“He wanted to speak before the meeting even started. The agenda of this congress is prescribed by the statutes and the first item is that the CEO of Safa must say if the congress was in compliance with the statutes.
“He was asked on numerous occasions to refrain from speaking from the floor because we were dealing with the constitutionality of the congress and he didn’t want to stop,” said Motlanthe.
“He continued to disrespect orders from the president [Jordaan] and there was no choice but to ask security to take him out of the meeting.
"As a result, there was a move from delegates to say his behaviour was unwarranted and they quoted the statutes. So, congress resolved that he must be charged and my office will be in touch with him where I will be sending him the charge sheet.
“He must appear before the disciplinary hearing for his behaviour because the congress felt that he disrespected the meeting.”
Motlanthe indicated that the hugely anticipated Safa elective congress would take place before the end of August.
“The date of the elections has been given to me but we are still having regions that must go to elections. After I have made a proper assessment, I will write to members suggesting the dates. But the resolution of the congress is that it must not be later than August 30.”
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