WeeklySA_AdminRED FLAGS: National football sinks to bottom of seabed as official wardS off criminal charges
By Jo-Mangaliso Mdhlela
If the country requires sound leadership, its citizenry knows what to do: it must, since we are a democracy, use its popular vote, and its mandate derived from its Constitution, to oust and fight any form of tyranny – and the errant football association officials are no exception.
The people of this country in their numbers supported the revolution to topple an unjust regime and its laws, roots and all.
The exception to the revolutionary fervour was a hotchpotch of sell-outs perched on the apron strings of their homeland puppets, who were willing to defend the iniquities of an unjust apartheid system.
But the people’s revolution was entrenched. The commitment to render the apartheid regime unworkable and ungovernable was unshakeable.
This was even so as prospects of revolutionary success appeared dim, yet the will to continue to push to the limits remained insurmountable despite the military might the oppressive system wielded.
Any struggle requires sacrifice and solidarity, as it also needs the consciousness of truth-telling, and the sacrifice fuelled by the commitment not to tire, despite how odds may dictate.
I use the political metaphor to highlight the football tragedy facing this country, and how this stifles football growth under the leadership of the South African Football Association (Safa). I argue that if football faithful seek change, this cannot be successfully achieved if football leadership is stunted by corruption and malfeasance.
I argue that if Safa faithful seek change, and the full realisation of the country’s football potential and talent is to blossom, Safa has to undergo not a cosmetic change, but a radical transformation, with its leadership structure completely overhauled.
What does this entail?
It means the country’s association must unite to seek a lasting solution to a compounding football problem.
Men and women at Safa must be prepared to lay down their lives for each other to uproot a dysfunctional Safa, replacing it with something better. Here is the problem: the deep hole in Safa’s coffers constitutes a crisis. The association is in the red, and will not get out of the deep hole unless radical changes are instituted.
As in June, its financial senior financial official, Gronie Hluyo, reported to the parliamentary sports oversight committee that Safa’s liabilities exceeded its assets by a staggering R141-million.
How did we get there? Did the oversight chairperson, after listening to such a sordid and sorry story, give Danny Jordaan a pat on the shoulder, shrug his shoulders, and walked away, “Well done servant of the people?”
What did he do? Jordaan is keeping his job, and hoping for another retention at Safa, and we may ask, why is that the case?
Why is it so, when Safa cannot, even by a sleight of hand, redeem the prevailing state of affairs of a sinking under his watch?
If the ship which is Safa, goes the way James Cameron’s Titanic sunk, after the mighty ship hit the iceberg, we have to ask: Has Safa hit the iceberg, sinking deeper into the figurative bottom of the sea, with no hope of redemption?
Which bring us to the nub of it all – maladministration is at play here, and there can be question about it.
Yet, Safa as a national asset must be preserved. This, not for our own sake, but for the sake of posterity – for generation to follow when all of us of this generation will be long gone, extinct from the face of the Earth.
It is recorded history that Safa’s poor state of administration is also reflected in its inability to pay its staff on time, if at all. Safa is also unable to pay its players who dedicate themselves to national duty.
We also know that, some eight months or so ago, the government had to fork our R5-million prematurely, as part of the association grant it receive from the government, to save a dire financial situation.
What kind of company is it that keeps a CEO who is unable to create wealth for the company, and the workers who are the backbone of the company. Might it be that nobody cares, from government downwards?
If our cities and towns and villages are run down, with streets characterised by raw sewage – everyday – without any official bothered, and this was not treated as big deal, why should a Safa high-ranking officials bother?
The parlous state of Safa is serious. Jordaan and his financial officer, Hluyo, have been in and out of court, with charges of theft withdrawn.
The state, also limping, continues to investigate if fraud charges will stick on the officials.
But the point must be made. The associations that constitute Safa, its officials, must partly shoulder the blame. They lack the revolutionary spirit and zeal. If they did, they would have long ago used their muscle to oust inefficient officials at Safa.
