Jordaan to seek re-election as Safa president in order to see out Vision 2022

A DATE has been set for Safa elections next year, and incumbent president Danny Jordaan confirmed yesterday that he would be prepared to stand for another term – if nominated.

He said he will know whether he will get a crack at another four years to see through Vision 2022 by mid-February, when all the Safa regions put forward their candidates.

Jordaan, was elected president in September 2013, succeeding Kirsten Nematandani and beating Mandla Mazibuko, by 162 votes to 88 from the 52 regions within the association.

The elections for a new executive will be held on 24 March next year.

“We held our Safa annual congress recently (two weeks ago) and one of the things decided there was that the date for the elections should be earlier instead of after the World Cup,” said Jordaan.

“The congress had anticipated that we would qualify for the tournament in Russia and therefore only hold the election in September.

“But seeing that is no longer the case, why wait? It is best to give the new executive, whoever they may be, more time to start now and build towards 2022.”

Asked if he would seek re-election, Jordaan did not hesitate in giving an answer.

“If I am nominated, then, probably, yes,” he said. “If they (the regions) so decide and feel we must complete the project – our junior players are coming through and we have to get more quality coaches into SA football. I am very happy with the fact that during our term, we have seen the transformation of coaches in the PSL.

“When we started, most of the coaches, if not all of them in the league, were foreign coaches. Today I don’t even know how many foreign coaches there are. They are by far in the minority.”

Jordaan did not hide the fact that the main reason why the resolution to bring the Safa elections to an earlier date was because of Bafana Bafana’s failure to qualify for next year’s World Cup, which reflects poorly on his term in office.

“There will be reward and punishment for what we have done and not done during the time the current executive was in charge, that is just the way of life,” the Safa president said.

“I am excited with what has been achieved, but the four years (if re-elected) is going to be quite demanding. I will probably agree to go for another term, but let me not answer a question that has not yet been asked.

“No one has asked me to stand. The nominations will open in the middle of January next year and then they close mid-February. We will know then who are the candidates.”