Danny Jordaan re-elected as Safa president in landslide vote

The result of the South African Football Association’s (Safa's) elections was never in doubt. Danny Jordaan, who has held the post of the association’s head honcho since 2013, prevailed over his challengers Ria Ledwaba and Solly Mohlabeng.

Jordaan received 186 votes to comfortably win the elective race by a landslide, as the majority Safa members who had voiced their support for him in the lead-up to the elective congress stuck to their guns and voted him in for a third term. His rivals, former vice-president Ledwaba and Safa Tshwane president Mohlabeng received 27 and eight votes, respectively.

Speaking after his convincing victory at the congress, which took place at Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg on Saturday, 25 June, Jordaan hinted that the majority of the Safa members were the ones who had convinced him to push for a third term, instead of him calling it quits after being at the helm for almost a decade.

He said that those who voted for him had wanted to ensure that he had an adequate succession plan for when he might call it quits in 2026 – the year in which his new term will come to an end.

“That’s one of the reasons why [some of the] members said ‘you can’t just drop the ball and go. You must have a succession plan.’ I heard them and we agreed. It is not as if I woke up one morning and said I want a third term. That is far from the truth, I had accepted that I’d made my contribution. But I must now manage the vision for 2030 and put a plan in place.”

That plan will not involve Ledwaba, whose time with the association has likely come to an end. She is not eligible for a role in Safa’s National Executive Committee (NEC) after not being not nominated for the post by her region.

Additionally, an amendment of the Safa constitution at an Ordinary Congress on 26 March 2022– vetted by the majority of the association’s members – stipulates that Jordaan will now be at the forefront of electing his own deputies.

According to the amended statutes, only Premier Soccer League chairperson Irvin Khoza is guaranteed the role of vice-president.

That means that Ledwaba, who made history in 2018 when she became the first female vice-president of Safa, will not be in the mix. More especially considering her recent pushback against the incumbent.

This was confirmed by Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe, who said: “If she’s no longer a member of the NEC, she can’t be a vice-president. The only automatic vice-president is the chair of the league, and the others must come from the NEC.”

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