Former South African Football Association (SAFA) vice-president and Ria Stars owner Ria Ledwaba could be forced to part with thousands of rands after the football governing body announced plans to recover legal costs incurred during her prolonged court battle against the association.
SAFA announced on Sunday that it intends to recover all costs incurred in the courts during multiple legal challenges launched by Ledwaba and former SAFA president candidate Solly Mohlabeng over the past four years.
The pair approached several courts in an attempt to overturn the outcome of the 2022 SAFA presidential elections, which were held at the Sandton Convention Centre on Saturday, June 25, 2022.
They also challenged their loss of standing within SAFA structures.
Incumbent president Dr Danny Jordaan won the majority of votes ahead of Ledwaba and Mohlabeng, with FIFA subsequently recognising the outcome of the election.
However, the two continued their legal battle, taking the matter from the Pretoria High Court to the Supreme Court of Appeal and, most recently, the Constitutional Court — the country’s highest court.
At every stage, the courts rejected their attempts to overturn or re-litigate the election outcome, with costs awarded against them.
The Constitutional Court recently dismissed, with costs, their application for leave to appeal, effectively bringing their long-running legal battle against SAFA to an end.
According to SAFA, this was the seventh time in less than four years that Ledwaba and Mohlabeng had failed in their attempts to challenge the association and disrupt the outcome of the 2022 elections.
SAFA said it remained focused on its mandate despite the prolonged legal challenges.
“Through it all, SAFA was never distracted nor deviated from its mandate to develop and serve football in this country,” the association said.
It added that its various football programmes and structures, including Banyana Banyana, Bafana Bafana, the junior national teams, youth programmes, coaching and refereeing departments, continued with their work.
SAFA said it would send the first claim for the outstanding legal costs to Ledwaba and Mohlabeng in the coming days as it begins the process of recovering the money.
The move could leave the former SAFA vice-president facing a potentially hefty legal bill after the courts repeatedly ruled against the challenges.