Two of the former candidates who ran against Danny Jordaan for SAFA President three months ago are taking the fight to arbitration.
Just about three months since the South African Football Association (SAFA) President Danny Jordaan was re-elected to serve his third term, the two candidates that were running against him, for the position, Ria Ledwaba and Solly Mohlebang are declaring a dispute and taking the fight to arbitration.
Ledwaba, a former SAFA Vice-President and Mohlebang, a SAFA Tshwane President, have lodged some complaints and are challenging the outcomes of the elections as they contend that the processes that were followed leading up and during the elections were flawed.
In the legal papers that have been seen by iDiski Times, Ledwaba and Mohlebang alleged that the processes that led to Jordaan’s re-election and his entire National Executive Committee (NEC) were procedurally flawed. They have filed an application that seeks for the elective congress to be convened and the appointment of candidates who have been elected to the SAFA NEC be set aside and start the election process afresh.
The SAFA elective congress held in June, was preceded by a series of court sessions which were thrown away on lack of urgency basis and not on the merits of the cases, as SAFA regions around the country challenged what they alleged to be constitutional shortcomings.
In the legal papers filed by Ledwaba and Mohlebang, they state four fundamental issues that they are challenging…1) That a fair, just and transparent process to the elections, should ensure that local football associations and regions go to elections first and do so timeously, 2) Affords candidates sufficient time to visit the regions to canvass their support, nomination and later elections, 3) Ensures that the governing provisions of the elective process are in place and duly followed and 4) Ensures that the elective process is overseen by an independent body.
Leading to the elections, Ledwaba who could only start campaigning visibly after she was declared eligible to contest the election by the SAFA Governance Committee, ran into a lot of public spats with her former colleagues. At some stage, she also had to abandon her plans to launch her campaign, as SAFA wrote her a letter, reminding her about the processes governing the electoral process.
Amongst, some of the processes that are being challenged by Ledwaba and Mohlebang, is how the SAFA Governance Committee which oversaw the election was appointed. They are questioning the whereabouts of former Minister of Safety and Security, Prof. Sydney Mufumadi who was earlier reported to be the Chairperson of the Governance Committee but never got to serve in that role.
It is still not clear when this arbitration would take place, but Jordaan who won his third term by a landslide victory, after polling 186 votes, to Ledwaba’s 27 and Mohlabeng’s eight, is expected to oppose this application together with SAFA.
When iDiski Times reached out to SAFA, their official response was, “The South African Football Association’s Elective Congress was held almost three months ago and we have moved on.”
This story for appeared in iDiski Times, edition 70.
