Ncobo does not regret dirty battle with Jordaan for Safa presidency
Andile “Ace” Ncobo says his failed SA Football Association presidency bid in 2018 achieved its ambition of showing that the Safa constitution has been "butchered” over the years.
Ace Ncobo with SA Football Association president Danny Jordaan
At the time, Ncobo alleged that constitutional amendments have been made to favour incumbent Danny Jordaan retaining the presidency.
READ: Veteran Nigerian goalkeeper Enyeama open to Chiefs, Pirates move
Ncobo, who was contesting for the Safa presidency against Jordaan‚ but walked out of the elective congress at Sandton Convention Centre on 26 May 2018.
“For me‚ I think the project objective was achieved. And the objective was merely to highlight what was wrong‚” Ncobo is quoted as saying by TimesLIVE.
“And that is the fact that the constitution has been butchered so many times over the years to suit just one person – Danny Jordaan.
“Everything that has been done in butchering the Safa constitution was done to protect him from any challenge whatsoever. So for me it was a case of saying that we can’t take our football into the future if these things are still happening.
“And I think I achieved that. People became more educated about what was wrong with Safa during that period. And I don’t think they have forgotten what we unearthed.
“There were issues‚ besides the fact that effectively almost everybody who could stand against him (Jordaan) was declared as a person that was not part of the football family‚” he said.
“I mean‚ if you’ve got people like ‘Rhuu’ [Radebe] being referred to as outsiders in football‚ then it means there’s something wrong with the basics of your constitution.
“But more importantly the unconstitutional activity relates to the election process itself.
“At the time the issue was around the electoral committee [being unconstitutionally appointed] because there are certain timeframes that must be observed. There must be a special congress and a special process of doing that.
“Also there is the clause that requires that every single candidate‚ not just for president‚ for any position on the executive‚ should be properly vetted. That was never done.
“There was even a member of the executive from the Western Cape‚ who used to be in the police force‚ who served a year for fraud and corruption. He was part of the candidate list.
“And I stood up at the congress and spoke to the chairperson of the so-called election committee to ask him if he was happy that they had conducted the due process of vetting. He said‚ ‘Yes’. But I said‚ ‘How do you include my name as Ace Ncobo and yet you have not vetted me?’
“So all they did was just … to say‚ ‘OK‚ we did not follow the constitution with regards the time period – condone’‚ and‚ ‘We did not appoint the election committee following the constitution – condone’.
“That’s how they butchered the constitution to fit what Danny wanted to fit.”
For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.
