WeeklySA_AdminNO LIMITS: SAFA BOSS HINTS HE MAY STAND FOR ANOTHER TERM IN 2026 – STIRS HORNET’S NEST
By Ali Mphaki
The next SAFA elections may be a yawn away but Danny Jordaan has given a strong hint that he could be running for a fourth term in 2026, when his current term comes to an end.
Jordaan has been a SAFA President since 2013, he was previously a Vice-President and CEO at SAFA and also the 2010 World Cup Local Organizing and Bid Committees.
He has also served in the SAFA Executive since the country’s readmission to international football in 1991.
Instead of readying to pass the baton after 11 years at the helm of South African football, Jordaan rather has given a strong hint that he could be running for a fourth term in 2026, when his current term comes to an end.
Jordaan, (73), won an election for his third term in June 2022. He immediately declared that this would be his last term and would start working on a succession plan.
But the latest reports indicate that, that is no longer the case. He has also served in the SAFA Executive since the country’s readmission to international football in 1991.
SAFA does not have term limits just like CAF, and Jordaan says terms from when they are implemented and have no bearing on the previous terms served.
Speaking during the press conference held at SAFA House earlier this week, to declare support for CAF President Patrice Motsepe’s re-election next year, the issue of term limits on the continent took centre stage.
The discussion follows reports from last weekend that Jordaan has started to make moves for a fourth term.
Responding to a question about term limits in football, Jordaan used the example of CAF that doesn’t have term limits.
“Term limits start on the day which the resolution is taken. Gianni Infantino served a term then they took the resolution, the term limit and now he’s serving the term.
Now if you take the period prior to the decision, Gianni Infantino is already passed his first term,” Jordaan said.
“So, it depends on how you interpret it. At the moment, in CAF there is no term limit, in FIFA, when was it taken? In 2017, so 2021, 2025, 2029 is Giani Infantino’s last term. However, if you take it from the time when he commended, it should have been his fourth term.”
On the day Jordaan (73) won an election for his third term in June 2022, he immediately declared that this would be his last term and would start working on a succession plan.
But the latest reports indicate that, that is no longer the case. SAFA does not have term limits just like CAF, and Jordaan says terms from when they are implemented and have no bearing on the previous terms served.
“It’s just a legal point, you cannot make a law and make it retrospective, it applies from the day it was adopted.
So, we must understand that. I think you will also complain if a law comes that you must pay 50% tax and in retrospective, it starts on the day when it was accepted,” the SAFA president explained.
Jordaan’s latest move is likely to cause a stir, especially if recent activities at SAFA are anything to go by.
Ria Ledwaba, the former SAFA vice-president had recently called on FIFA to act on the controversial association whose offices were raided by the Hawks earlier this year.
The Hawks’ raid relates to a criminal case they are investigating around allegations that SAFA president Danny Jordaan used the association’s money for personal gain.
Ledwaba has been involved in a protracted fight with SAFA, which initially saw the association label her persona non grata, only to lift the ban.
Ledwaba had also called on world football governing body FIFA to disband the leadership of the South African Football Association (SAFA) and install a normalisation committee.
The former SAFA vice-president was involved in a protracted legal battle against the association she deputised for from 2018 until 2022, when she failed to topple Danny Jordaan in the race for SAFA’s presidency.
According to SAFA statutes, the election of office-bearers shall be by vote of accredited delegates and office-bearers present at a Quadrennial Congress of SAFA.
25.2 Any person shall be eligible for election as President, Vice President or Member of the National Executive Committee provided that such person is nominated by a Member in good standing and complies with the eligibility provisions of the SAFA Electoral Code.
25.4 Any Member in good standing shall be entitled to submit nominations for the position of President, and the three (3) Vice-Presidents (other than the League Vice-President), and the National List of candidates for election to the NEC.
25.5 Only Regional Members in good standing shall be entitled to submit nominations from their Province to the Provincial List of candidates for election.
25.6 Sixty (60) days prior to the date of the elective Congress the Chief Executive Officer shall distribute nomination forms to Members per registered post duly certified.
…MOTSEPE FOR SECOND TERM
PROGRESS: EGYPT’S RIDA AND CAMEROON SAMUEL ETO COULD ALSO MAKE BIDS
By Sports Reporter
Patrice Motsepe has said he is looking to secure a second term as Confederation of African Football president in order to continue the “good progress” made since he took charge in 2021.
The South African walked into a crisis-hit organisation after his predecessor, Ahmad of Madagascar, became the first Caf president to be banned by Fifa for ethics abuses, including misappropriation of funds. Under the stewardship of Motsepe, African football’s governing body – whose presidential elections are scheduled for March 2025 – appears to be moving into calmer financial waters after a turbulent period under the former regime.
“The key issue is for us to build on the legacy,” said Motsepe, a mining magnate whose wealth is estimated at $3bn (£2.3bn) by Forbes, external.
Motsepe’s decision to seek re-election was announced just hours after Caf’s general assembly had taken place in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. A press release, external stated that he had “finally” agreed to stand “following requests from numerous [football federation] presidents, zonal union presidents and key stakeholders”.
“I was partly taken aback by the huge insistence about continuity,” the 62-year-old, also the owner of South African club Mamelodi Sundowns, told BBC Sport Africa.
“There was some concern that there may not be the same degree of emphasis on governance, on ethics and the sort of fundamental changes that we’ve had to introduce. “There’s a lot of good, good progress that has been made, but there is still a lot of work to be done.”
Motsepe is the first to declare as a candidate, with some reports suggesting that Egypt’s Hany Abo Rida and former Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o, a four-time African Footballer of the Year, could also make bids.
Motsepe has worked closely with Fifa president Gianni Infantino during his time in charge of African football
Motsepe’s team say they started their tenure on the back foot financially, inheriting a deficit of between $40-50m (£30.8-38.5m).
The administration was further burdened by having to pay a $50m (£38.5m) settlement fee to French media company Lagardere after Ahmad’s regime cancelled the biggest broadcast deal in African football history in 2019.
Last week, Caf announced its deficit had fallen to just under $10m (£7.7m) in the 2022-23 financial year – a period when the African football body paid the first of two $25m (£19.25m) tranches to Lagardere. Even though the organisation’s 2023-24 financial year, which runs from July to June, included the second payment of $25m, it is expected to further improve Caf’s accounts.
The Cairo-based organisation made a $72m (£55.5m) profit from this year’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) – a sum 18 times bigger than that generated by the previous edition in 2022.
Much of the growth stems from improved relations with sponsors and broadcasters. Last week, Motsepe’s Caf doubled the annual grant handed out to member associations to $400,000 (£308,000), while also introducing a new $50,000 (£38,500) payment to clubs that exit continental club competitions in the preliminary rounds.
