Just a few hours before Bafana Bafana’s all-important victory, which qualified them for the 2026 Fifa World Cup, Safa bosses and national executive committee (NEC) members were involved in prolonged and disorderly heated exchanges.
The squabbling would have surely been exacerbated had Bafana failed to book their spot at the World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico.
While all eyes were on Bafana, NEC members were vitriolically attacking each other over Nelson Mandela Bay Football Association and NEC member Simpiwe Mkhangelwa (MK).
Members opposed to Safa president Danny Jordaan, known as the B Team, demanded to know why Mkhangelwa was suspended and not invited by the CEO, Lydia Monyepao, to the meeting at Mbombela Stadium. They also questioned the correctness of the minutes of the previous meeting and the threat to throw member Gladwyn White out of the meeting.
The other group supporting Jordaan, known as the A Team, leapt to the president’s defence.
In an audio recording that Sunday World has listened to, members Monde Montshiwa, Mosimanegape Mathe and Orapeleng Setlhare of the B Team faction can be heard -attacking Jordaan, vice-president Natasha Tsichlas and finance committee chairperson
Mxolisi Sibam. At one stage, members even threatened to call in the police.
White argued that in line with Safa statutes, the leadership must explain which body outside of the NEC considered the suspension of Mkhangelwa.
“This is not your meeting, order president. This is our organisation; we are all in this organisation. You are harming the organisation. There are people who died for this organisation; they spent their lives in this organisation,” screamed Mathe at one stage.
Montshiwa joined in: “President, let us get things right. Are you threatening individuals that you are going to chase them out of the meeting? Are we serious about this Safa? The intention is clear: are you going to suppress anyone with a different voice?
“You tried to suspend individuals in the last meeting.
“You cannot throw members out when they are raising pertinent matters from the last meeting, and which are important for this meeting. This is premeditated, and Sibam is not going to speak. Give us the opportunity to express ourselves. The threat that you are going to kick [out] a member of the NEC is out of order – we must tell you. Let the security come and chase us out.”
The diatribe continued. “We need to bring this meeting to order. The records for these minutes are not proper – now you say I must go to the high court. I will show you, as poor as I am, I will go to the high court and challenge you. Why did you call a meeting when you do not want to listen to us?”
Jordaan replied that Montshiwa had made his point. “I gave you the chance to talk; now you must allow me to speak. I do not want to talk about this anymore because you are disrupting me, and you are not willing to listen. MK’s story is not on the agenda, and it cannot be discussed, and that’s the end of the story.”
Added Mathe: “I am apologising, I am withdrawing so that you can go ahead and discuss this matter. You say that because you are avoiding the matter, you do not want to talk to us. Please continue with the meeting.”
Long-serving official and Safa vice president Tsichlas tried to intervene, but she was reprimanded by one of the members. “Natasha, you are out of order. Wena, you can keep quiet, you are out of order.
“The president was defending you, respectfully, just keep quiet. You are not going to speak in this meeting. South Africa must know that there is the A Team and the B Team. Why must the A Team run Safa and the B Team watch from outside?”
Setlhare jumped in: “It’s an NEC meeting, president, and we are members. I attended. This is a Safa meeting, you are not Safa – this is not your company, this one. You are the chairperson of the meeting. Mr President, are you going to run the meeting?
“Call the police, yes call the police, this is how Safa is going to end. Call the police, and they will come with the media.
Mathe added: “Call the police, the people must know. Mr President, you collapsed this meeting because you do not want to listen to us. You cannot tell me to sit down. I drove [all the way] from Warrenton (Northern Cape), it is 500km. I cannot come here, and you tell me I cannot speak.
“I am not a child; you cannot tell me to shut up. You should have just invited me to come and watch the game. Why did you invite us to this meeting? President, we know that you hate us. Please do not do this in this meeting. Why is MK not here? He hates MK and MK is not here…”
The impasse was a continuation of the last meeting in Bloemfontein, where Jordaan and Mkhangelwa reportedly came close to trading punches.
The association finds itself in the middle of a battle for power.
