Several South African Football Association (Safa) regions are pledging their support to the federation’s embattled president Danny Jordaan who made his second court appearance on Thursday.
Umkhanyakude, Zululand, Ugu, Umgungundlovu and iLembe regions are throwing their weight in terms of supporting Jordaan, Chief Financial Officer Gronie Hluyo and Grit Communications Director, Trevor Neethling, who appeared before the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court in the East of Johannesburg.
The regions’ members were also in court to show their full backing for Jordaan and co-accused who are facing charges of fraud and theft amounting to R1.3-million and for irregularly using the association’s funds.
Magistrate Shirley Soko postponed the matter to Tuesday (December 10) after only a few minutes of deliberations, but the regions said they would return to support the Safa president.
“I think the whole country knows that there are allegations that have been levelled against our resident, and we are here today to support him as the region,” said Ilembe region president Nkokhelo Zulu told Safa Media.
“Till today, we believe that the things we are hearing and the allegations against our President are not true. We are here to show that all these things they are saying, we do not believe them.”
Umkhanyakude region president said there would have been more people at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court today, but many of them stayed behind to attend the 2024 SALGA Games in Ethekwini from 5-8 December.
“They will be here with us next week when we return to support our President. We are coming from Umkhanyakude and we are here for one thing, to support the president as the region. We will be back.”
Safa remains unwavering in its commitment to the growth and development of football in the country, and continues to priorities the sport’s potential to unite, uplift and create opportunities for South Africa.
Meanwhile, Safa say that they welcome the High Court’s latest ruling (handed down on Friday), which unequivocally rejects the continued efforts by Ria Ledwaba and Solly Mohlabeng to challenge the outcome of the Association’s Elective Congress in June 2022.
In October 2022, after suffering a significant defeat in the Safa presidential elections, Ledwaba and Mohlabeng sought to overturn the results. They launched an application at the Pretoria division of the High Court, seeking to invalidate and set aside the elections’ outcome.
The leave to appeal was heard on Thursday and on Friday, the High Court once again ruled against them, confirming that their appeal lacked reasonable prospects of success.
The Court further emphasised that no other court would likely reach a different conclusion, and that there were no compelling circumstances justifying consideration by a higher Court, including that there is no important point of law that they raised which justify consideration by a higher Court.
The application for leave to appeal was dismissed with costs, including costs of a Senior Counsel.
