SAFA presidential candidate, Ace Ncobo, has called on the upcoming SAFA presidential elections to be investigated after ‘several constitutional imperatives were grossly violated’ in preparations.

Ncobo has also called for current SAFA president Danny Jordaan to step down. The elections are set for 24 March and will see Ncobo run against Jordaan as the sole opposer.

Ncobo, who is a former top-flight referee, made the revelations in a statement on Friday evening.

The statement read:

‘Following a drawn-out process of going through the FIFA, CAF and SAFA Statutes and Electoral Codes, at the end of which it became clear that several constitutional imperatives were grossly violated in preparing for the SAFA Elective Congress scheduled for the 24th of March 2018, I decided to write to the IEC which had been appointed to oversee the electoral processes,” Ncobo said in his statement.

‘I wrote to the IEC after exchanging numerous emails with the SAFA CEO, Mr. Dennis Mumble, who also acts as the Secretary of the Electoral Committee, bringing to his attention some of these gross violations of processes.

‘When it became apparent that SAFA was hell-bent on proceeding with an elective congress whose very convocation earlier than the initial date was initiated with motives that had nothing to do with football.

‘I was left with no option but to address my concerns to other authoritative bodies. One of those was the IEC itself. The IEC has today, 9 March 2018, responded to my letter dated 6 March 2018 and confirmed its decision to terminate its involvement in SAFA elections.

‘Without an Electoral Committee, SAFA is left with no option but to postpone these elections and retrace its steps such that the election processes are correctly followed.

‘Article 4 (3) of the Electoral Code prescribes that the Electoral Committee must be elected at a general assembly at least six months before an elective congress. Since that is the first step to be performed, this means the election cannot take place earlier than six months.

‘I hope that president Danny Jordaan and his executive will accept this as an opportunity to accept that the Statutes of the Association reign supreme over any individual or a group of individuals who happen to hold positions of power,’ Ncobo added in his statement.

‘This is hopefully a lesson that holding an absolute majority in the executive structure does not grant anyone the right to violate statutes via a show of hands.

‘I am sure the football loving public will await eagerly the decision of the current SAFA President to resign from his position.

‘His primary task is to uphold and respect the constitution of SAFA. For him to be complicit in its violation is a serious indictment of his leadership and continued involvement with the Association.

‘There are various other serious violations besides this one but I have elected to first make a submission to FIFA before disclosing them. Once FIFA acknowledges receipt thereof I shall be in a position to share with the media and the public what those violations are,’ he concluded.

Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix