By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@GalloImages.
The SA Football Association (Safa) elective congress is set to go ahead on Saturday after another attempt to stop it was dismissed by the high court in Pretoria.
Ria Ledwaba, the first female to contend for the position, will take on current President Danny Jordaan. The NEC of SAFA are set to meet at the tomorrow, leading to a Special Congress (elective conference).
Ledwaba cried foul play when she was ordered to hold off the launch of her campaign in March this year as the rules stated that candidates could only campaign once confirmed to be official by the governance committee.
The congress will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg where incumbent Jordaan, Ledwaba and Safa Tshwane president Solly Mohlabeng will contest the presidency.
The ousted Safa Vhembe region leaders approached the courts seeking postponement of the elective congress while a dispute within that region was being resolved. But the court struck the matter off the roll for a lack of urgency.
Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe said Safa’s latest triumph in the courts is further confirmation that the association’s members should not be discouraged from voting for leaders of their choice.
“We [Safa] are happy after the latest decision in the courts and we are looking forward to the elective congress on Saturday,” Motlanthe said.
Jordaan, a former mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape, has held the position of president since 2013, when he replaced Kirsten Nematandani. He is vying for a third term in office.
Three years after first being installed in the highest Safa seat, he remained the association’s president, despite ascending to the mayorship position after being elected by the ANC to serve in the role.
During his time in charge of Safa, claims of poor corporate governance, apparent power politics within the organisation, and his alleged dictatorial style have followed Jordaan constantly.
Meanwhile Mohlabeng was voted as Safa Tshwane president in 2019, a post he held onto unopposed when the region held its most recent elections on 28 May 2022.
Though not in the public eye as much as Jordaan and Ledwaba, Mohlabeng made headlines in March 2022, during the same Safa congress Ledwaba has flagged.