Group’s court bid to prevent Safa vote fails
Elections to go ahead after matter struck off the roll
AN URGENT application at the Johannesburg High Court to halt the South African Football Association’s (Safa) elective congress today was struck off the roll yesterday afternoon.
Incumbent Danny Jordaan is expected to be overwhelmingly elected for a second term, as Safa president in the elections to be held at Sandton Convention Centre.
The application was brought by three Local Football Associations (LFAs)‚ Matsatsantsa Football Club and their owner‚ Sello Nkwana.
It was based on agreements that were reached out of court between the LFAs‚ Safa Waterberg Region and Safa‚ on March 6 when an initial March 24 elective congress was put on hold.
In documents obtained by TimesLIVE‚ one of the terms of the order was that: “Danny Jordaan being the president of the Respondent [Safa] and [Dennis] Mumble being the Chief Executive Officer of the Respondent be prohibited to act against the High Court order dated 06 March 2018 with immediate effect or face 30 days direct imprisonment.”
Safa’s legal officer Tebogo Motlanthe said: “The matter was struck off the roll because‚ firstly‚ it lacked urgency‚ and secondly‚ they did not follow the court manual lodging their papers.
“The judge just said he was not happy with the way they lodged their papers‚ not following the court manual.”
Safa’s legal team argued that the applicants had from April 28‚ when the date for the elective congress was set at an extraordinary congress‚ to make their application‚ so an urgent application was unnecessary.
The lawyer for the applicants‚ James Morero‚ said they will continue with their efforts even after the Safa elections today.
“The urgency matter was the problem‚” said Morero.
“We filed papers yesterday for today,” he added.
“In any case we foresaw that we may have a problem with that.
“The client is saying that – because the matter was not dismissed‚ but was struck off the roll‚ which means you can still bring it within the normal roll – that if they proceed with the congress tomorrow, he is willing to come back and apply to nullify the congress.”
When the application was initially brought, Morero explained that it revolved around the unconstitutional election of members at LFA and regional level in Waterberg.
“The issues start from the LFA‚ where the team‚ Matsatsantsa FC‚ was excluded from participating in the LFA congress‚ and so also couldn’t participate in the [Waterberg] regional congress‚” said Morero.
“So there were individuals who were unconstitutionally elected to the LFAs who participated in the regional congress.
“So they say now that that is unconstitutional‚ and therefore if any congress is held by the national body‚ those people are participating‚ and some are also standing in the national congress.”
He said there were also Safa statutes regarding today’s congress that had not been complied with.
“When they [Jordaan and Mumble] came to court [for the March out-ofcourt settlement] they said‚ ‘We concede’. And we said: ‘Next time we organise a congress we are going to do it in compliance with the constitution’,” said Morero.
Former referee Andile ‘Ace’ Ncobo is set to stand against Jordaan in the Safa election today. —