The Sunday Mail
COSAFA president Phillip Chiyangwa yesterday described the re-election of Danny Jordaan as South African Football Association president as a sign of maturity within the football bloc.
Jordaan’s sole opponent in the election at the Sandton Convention Centre‚ Andile ‘Ace’ Ncobo‚ walked out of the conference claiming he had been threatened after the former referee’s attempts to have the congress halted on grounds of various Safa statutes not having been obeyed was unsuccessful. Jordaan won a second five-year term by 236‚ or 95.12 percent‚ of the 246 votes‚ with two voting against the former 2010 World Cup Organising Committee CEO‚ one vote spoilt‚ and the remaining 10 either having abstained or were not present.
Commenting on the development Chiyangwa, who once brought the feuding Jordaan and Ncobo to the negotiating table, said SAFA had shown that “Cosafa has matured as football region.”
“I would like to congratulate Danny Jordaan for his re-election and I do this both as Cosafa and Zifa president,” said Chiyangwa.
“His re-election shows that as Cosafa we have matured in terms of how we handle our issues. Yes here and there members of football associations will argue but at the end of the day the game must be the winner.
“What has happened in South Africa shows the world that we are football people and want to see the game developing. When I brought Danny and Ace to the negotiation table my message to them was simple, I said “gentlemen let South African football be the winner at the end of the day. And I am glad that South African football was the winner in Sandton yesterday.”
Chiyangwa added that Jordaan has shown “great commitment” to developing football in the Cosafa region.
“As a region we stand to benefit a lot from Danny’s continued stay at the helm of Safa because he is one guy who has been working tirelessly to promote football in the region.
“I look forward to further engaging Jordaan on issues of mutual cooperation and wish him all the best as he begins his second five year term.”
Meanwhile, Jordaan dismissed Ncobo’s claims that yesterday’s meeting was illegal.
Asked to respond to Ncobo’s allegation that the election was illegal‚ Jordaan was initially angry at the question.
“It’s nonsense. Absolute nonsense. And you only do it to football. And why do you do that?” he charged.
“You have in this room the electoral committee. Some of these men are senior advocates. They have acted as judges in the Supreme Court in this country. In this room we have a representative from Fifa.
“This is a transparent process in front of you. It’s not on hearsay. And where people raise issues we step back to say that we don’t want a discredited election.
“On Friday there was an attempt to stop this election. It was dismissed by the court. And the court said proceed. What else do you want?” — Sports Reporter/Timeslive
