South African Football Association (Safa) national executive committee (NEC) members are up in arms over the alleged favouritism applied by Safa president Danny Jordaan when it comes to the appointment of heads of delegation (HOD) for national team assignments and Caf club competitions.
This has allegedly divided the 47 NEC members and is a cause for concern for the embattled national association.
The NEC members are the association’s nerve centre and decision makers as they have the power to appoint the president, the Bafana Bafana head coach, the various committee chairpersons and the CEO of the organisation.
Members are of the opinion that the HOD duties should be rotated among NEC members and on a camp-to-camp basis, and that the responsibilities should not be solely placed on certain individuals who are said to be favoured by Jordaan.
The president appoints HODs for various national team camps, the Caf Champions League and the Confederations Cup. The HOD role comes with huge daily allowances, something that has left other members fuming for being overlooked. HODs get $200 (R3,700) daily allowances for being in national team camps, locally and internationally, and also for Caf club competitions. This is an international standard practice.
Safa North West NEC member David Molwantwa has been the Bafana Bafana HOD since the last Afcon qualifiers. He is said to be a close aide of Jordaan.
Thabile Msomi replaced Emma Hendricks in the Banyana Banyana set-up. At club level, Pius Nqandeni has been in charge of Mamelodi Sundowns for about three years now.
Solly Mkhabela is with SuperSport United who were in the Caf Confederation Cup. Monde Montshiwa travelled with Kaizer Chiefs as the Safa representative in the past.
“This is a very thorny issue among NEC members,” said an anonymous member of the executive. “There are squabbles because some members seem to be permanent HODs, and this is creating a lot of unhappiness.
“Other members too deserve to be appointed and the question is why the president is not rotating these duties to various members. It is clear favouritism, and it is now dividing the association.
Said another Safa NEC member: “We are all equal and should be treated the same. The president is sticking to one individual and we all want to represent Bafana and SA clubs on the continent. It does not make sense for a few individuals to be chosen when there are more than 40 of us in the NEC.
“The roles of the HOD must be alternated among all NEC members. What is happening now is not fair.”
As a breakdown, Bafana were in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations camp for about six weeks, and Molwantwa would have raked in close to R200 000. For the current Fifa Series in Algeria where Bafana returned on Thursday, they were in camp for about 10 days (R37 000).
Nqandeni, who travels with Sundowns, has been in the monies with the Brazilians who have been participating in almost all Caf competitions over the last couple of years.
Even the embattled Ria Ledwaba, the former vice-president who was banned and later unbanned by the association, spoke about the HOD situation when she was still at Safa.
“There must be a way of doing things at Safa. In the Safa constitution, the HOD is not supposed to be appointed by the president, they should be appointed by the NEC. I asked those questions that we should see women as heads of delegation at Bafana Bafana. I was then appointed as HOD of Bafana when we beat Nigeria, and I asked why that pattern did not continue.”
Jordaan and CEO Lydia Monyepao could not be reached on their phones for comment.
