Safa’s national executive committee confirmed the postponement of the controversial elective congress which was poised to take place on 24 March.
Safa are yet to announce a new date for the elections which have been tainted by claims of corruption.
Last week Cosafa president and Fifa official Phillip Chiyangwa was sent to South Africa by Fifa after former presidential nominee Ace Ncobo lodged a formal complaint of statutory violations by the Safa hierarchy.
Following a meeting between the Fifa official, Ncobo and Safa president Danny Jordaan; Chiyangwa announced that an agreement had been reached which saw Ncobo officially withdraw from the race for presidency and Safa were instructed to take corrective steps in line with the electoral code.
Despite this agreement, which was not made public, Safa said that the elections would go ahead as scheduled. This led Ncobo to lodge a follow-up complaint to Fifa, which is believed to have resulted in the decision to postpone the congress.
The decision was taken during a meeting on Tuesday, which was held to address any issues that may impact the credibility of the congress.
In a statement‚ Safa said the NEC meeting resolved to postpone the elections and it would give the new electoral committee (EC) sufficient time to iron out all compliance matters and finalise all matters pertaining to the elections.
The former PSL chief responded to the announcement of the postponement in a statement on Tuesday, where he said that he expected it.
Ncobo also proceeded to reveal some information on the ‘agreement’ between the three parties.
‘The agreement we signed forces a cancellation and starting from scratch. It creates no maneuvering space for deviation and only now that he [Jordaan] is faced with a barrage of litigation does he consider stopping the congress, notwithstanding the fact that they do not have funds to run the congress. But that’s a topic for another day,’ read the statement.
Former top referee Ncobo also revealed that he believes that the Cosafa president mismanaged the situation.
‘In the intervening period, Fifa asked me to make a fresh submission following what is considered a huge bungle by the Cosafa president, whose term of reference was to ‘ensure strict constitutionalism and compliance with the electoral code’ but ended up causing more confusion with his statement that everything had been sorted and that the elections could go ahead.’
More is likely to follow on this developing story as the Ncobo, Safa war wages on.
Photo: Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix
