Property deal key to case of fraud and corruption
The South African Football Association (Safa) is embroiled in a property scandal over its multimillion-rand Fun Valley facility.
In November 2015, Safa forked out R65-million for the property. However, in his affidavit,
former Safa CEO Dennis Mumble said after the property was transferred and a few improvements were made, it was valued at R44.5- million in 2016. The fallout over the purchase has resulted in Mumble and the organisation’s current president Danny Jordaan pointing fingers at each other.
Sunday World has learnt that Jordaan is under police investigation for theft, fraud and corruption after Mumble and football administrator Malesela Mooka opened a case against him at the Booysens police station in Joburg in May. The case has been transferred to the
Hawks for further investigation.
In his affidavit, Mumble said he had raised the issue of the inflated price of the property before the deal was concluded but that Jordaan claimed he already had an agreement in place with property owner Godfrey Cohen.
“At that point, the property was valued at between R30-million and R35-million. When the
Safa CFO and I approached Godfrey Cohen with the valuation of his property, he refused
to be engaged with anything to do with the price and referred us back to Jordaan and [Jerome] Valcke [the former secretary-general of Fifa],” Mumble’s statement reads.
“I went back to Jordaan and he confirmed that indeed they agreed to pay R65-million for the property. The deal was then finalised based on the agreement Jordaan [and] Valcke had
with Cohen.”
Sunday World has also seen a valuation certificate by professional property valuers Valuetec that valued the property at just under R45-million, as at June 1 2016. In his affidavit, Mooka backs allegations made by Mumble with regards to the purchase of Fun Valley. Despite Mumble’s allegations, Sunday World has seen sale agreement signed by Mumble. Mooka and Mumble further accuse Jordaan of irregularly appointing a communications firm. Mooka further alleges that the firm was appointed in part to spin the rape allegations against Jordaan at the time.
“I had first met the representative of Grit Communications after 19 October 2017 during
a private consultation he had with Jordaan’s private attorneys in Inanda, Johannesburg.
The consultation was to plan on how Jordaan would respond to allegations of rape levelled
against him. It was never my understanding or agreement that this service was for
Safa’s account. As a result, the association suffered a loss of R1 092 000…”
However, Sunday World has seen a service level agreement between Grit Communications
and Safa stating that the contract would run from October 1 2017 until September 30 2018
at a rate of R80 000 a month. Jordaan, in his capacity as Safa president, and the Grit boss
signed the agreement. Singer and former ANC MP Jennifer Ferguson came forward in October 2017 with claims that she was raped by Jordaan in 1993 – an allegation the politician-turned sports administrator has denied.
Provincial police spokesman Mavela Masondo confirmed that a case against Jordaan was
opened at Booysens police station but said it was later transferred to the Hawks. Jordaan, through his lawyers, said the allegations by Mumble and Mooka were baseless and were made for nefarious reasons.
Hawks spokesperson Philani Nkwalase said: “We cannot confirm nor deny such allegations,
as we do not conduct our ongoing investigations in the public domain.”
