By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Serious Commercial Crime Investigation (HAWKS) raided Safa House, the home of the South African Football Association, and seized a laptop, external hard drives, a USB and other documents.
The crime-busting unit says the search warrants were prompted by allegations of fraud and theft amounting to R1.3 million against the SAFA president.
The transgressions are said to have happened between 2014 and 2018 when Danny Jordaan was at the helm of the organisation.
Spokesperson Katlego Mogale said, the SAFA president hired a private security company for his personal protection and a public relations company without authorisation from the SAFA board.
“The president is also reported to have violated SAFA statutes thus prejudicing SAFA an actual loss of R1.3 million.”
“During the search, a laptop, external hard drives, a USB and documents were seized,” she said.
Jordaan and Safa have become synonymous over the past two decades. Credited as the CEO who brought home the Fifa 2010 World Cup, he was celebrated. Connected to this success, however, is the sticky issue of whether Safa paid a $10-million bribe to seal the awarding of the World Cup to South Africa, and Jordaan’s central role in the scheme. In 2013, Jordaan was elected as president of the association, a position he remains in as the longest-serving in Safa’s history.
Since, his leadership style – described by some current and erstwhile colleagues as that of a despotic, power-hungry man who acts without integrity and frequently beyond the remits of his authority and in violation of a litany of Safa regulations – has earned him numerous enemies.
Jordaan and Safa management have, in the past, consistently denied wrongdoing.