Ncobo drops out of race for top seat after Fifa steps in
There seems to be confusion over whether the SA Football Association (Safa) elections will go ahead or not.
While Safa says the March 24 polls are well on track, pointing to yesterday’s meeting to set up an electoral commission, presidential nominee Ace Ncobo has contradicted this on his Twitter account.
Safa spokesperson Dominic Chimhavi told Sowetan: “The elections are going ahead.”
But Ncobo, who has since withdrawn his candidacy for the top seat against incumbent Safa president Danny Jordaan, wrote that “there was no congress to start with so everything relating to that so-called congress has become null and void”.
This came a few hours after yesterday’s impromptu media briefing, which pronounced that Fifa had brokered an agreement between Ncobo and Safa over the elective conference. Sowetan could not reach Ncobo yesterday despite phone calls and text messages sent to him.
Ncobo had called for Jordaan to step down, citing violation of the Safa statutes and electoral code and went as far as accusing Jordaan of “raping the constitution”.
Cosafa president Phillip Chiyangwa, who acted on behalf of Fifa as the mediator between the two warring parties, said: “An agreement was signed by both parties that there will be an electoral committee appointed before the elections.
“Secondly, Ace Ncobo said he would not contest the elections and had officially withdrawn from the race.”
In his statement, Ncobo said: “Consistent with my previously stated stance that I am not interested in standing for the position of Safa president based on my belief that, when everyone in the football family is allowed to stand without intimidation and labelling, there are better suited leaders who can take up that task, I submitted to the Fifa delegation that I shall not be contesting the position of president.”
“Everyone in this club has been putting in the effort. From the players to the management, every individual is committed. We work as a team,” Da Gama insisted.