Safa presidential elections to go ahead

JOHANNESBURG: The Safa elections will go ahead next Saturday if the organisation has their way even though Ace Ncobo’s statement hinted that they ought to at least be postponed by six months to adhere to the electoral code.

Safa met yesterday to finalise the matter of putting together the electoral committee after Ncobo and Safa president Danny Jordaan signed an agreement following the mediation of Fifa envoy Phillip Chiyangwa.

Fifa roped in the Cosafa president to serve as an arbitrator on the matter after Ncobo raised a number of discrepancies that Safa allegedly committed leading up to the elections which saw him go as far as to say Fifa must put Safa under administration.

“It was on the basis of this understanding that the agreement stipulates, inter alia, that before any elective congress can be held, an electoral committee must be elected in accordance with the electoral code,” Ncobo said.

“The electoral code specifies that the electoral committee is elected in an ordinary congress six months before an elective congress and that this prescribed constitutional imperative provides no room for deviation.

“The electoral code also prescribes the election of an Electoral Appeal Committee as the final arbiter on all matters not dealt with by the electoral committee to the satisfaction of any individual or member who made such a submission.”

That undertaking is probably why Ncobo withdrew from running in the elections as it could open the door for the people who were deemed ineligible. But that door could be shut by Safa’s act to appoint an electoral committee to oversee the elections next week. Chiyangwa was non-commital on whether the elections would go ahead next week, only saying that the elections “can’t go ahead without the appointment of an electoral committee”.