6 days ago
Latest visit to Parliament paints grim picture of the finances of Danny Jordaan's Safa
There were two key takeaways from the South African Football Association's appearance before Parliament: its dire financial situation and its president, Danny Jordaan, hinting that he will run for a fourth term in 2026.
The South African Football Association (Safa) is in financial trouble. That was one of the key takeaways from the federation's appearance before Parliament's sport, arts and culture oversight committee.
During the routine visit to Parliament on Tuesday, 3 June Safa spoke about the financial struggles it is facing. The association's chief financial officer, Gronie Hluyo, said it is in debt, with its current liabilities exceeding its assets by R141-million.
Over the past few months in particular Safa has battled to pay employees and service providers on time. Even senior national team players have sometimes had to wait it out for their match fees.
In December 2024, the Department of Sport bailed out Safa from a financial quagmire by approving a R5-million advance from the association's annual government grant. However, in the long-term Safa still finds itself in a precarious financial position.
Cashflow quagmire
Hluyo said the reasons for this deficit included the adoption of gender parity policies for the senior teams, Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana. He said that despite this commitment from Safa, the limited sponsors approaching them were primarily interested in backing the men's team.
The financial officer, who stands accused of fraud within Safa – alongside the federation's president Danny Jordaan and public relations company boss Trevor Neethling – told Parliament that Safa's cashflow struggles were primarily due to the organisation battling to attract sponsors.
The latter situation, he submitted, is a direct result of the constantly negative publicity Safa receives in the media.
According to Hluyo, one of the most important components in Safa balancing its books is the federation finishing the renovation of the Fun Valley Resort, which it bought in 2015. The vision was to transform the site into Safa's official national technical centre, thereby reducing costs significantly.
'We bought a place called Fun Valley, which we are developing into a national technical centre. We are in the process of constructing that national technical centre. Once that is complete it will result in a lot of cost saving for Safa, because our teams will be staying at the national technical centre and training there,' Hluyo said.
'Currently our biggest costs are flights, accommodation and player remuneration. So, if we can reduce the accommodation costs, that will help quite a lot. However, we need funders in order to complete the construction of the technical centre.'
Safa paid R65-million for Fun Valley, which is in Johannesburg South. However, the purchase has been marred by controversy because of discrepancies in property valuations. It has always been said that Safa paid much more than what the property was worth.
In 2023, Hluyo told the media that the association needed about R600-million to complete all the construction.
But with its dire financial situation, as well as corporate companies shunning Safa due to the constant negative publicity, it's unclear where the money will come from.
Negative publicity
Hluyo also said Safa is also on the market for a public relations company to spruce up its image, owing to what Jordaan labelled a 'campaign' to derail the association, by both external and internal people.
'The campaign is intended to drive away the sponsors… It only happens to football. It won't happen to rugby and cricket. This is a political campaign and vicious campaign, but we will stand our ground. We will deliver the football that people want in this country. We are not afraid, we've seen worse,' Jordaan said.
Indeed, Safa regularly pumps out statements disputing one thing or another – from allegations that Jordaan is running the association like a cartel, to him ousting all those who challenge his authority. It's a long list.
Jordaan's former vice-president, Ria Ledwaba, once said of the Safa boss: 'As soon as you do not agree with the president, you are enemy number one.'
Jordaan has consistently denied the allegations against him. Vehemently. The 73-year-old former Nelson Mandela Bay mayor has also argued that if he was as despicable as he is always portrayed in the public domain, then members of the association would not continuously entrust him to lead it.
Another term?
Jordaan is currently serving a third term as Safa boss. He was first elected in 2013 and his current four-year term began in 2022. Asked in Parliament whether he would ever consider voluntarily stepping down from his position, especially in light of the negative publicity in Safa which can be directly linked to him, Jordaan said no.
'In any position, in a democracy, you cannot give yourself a position. You cannot decide when you stay and when you go. That is the responsibility of our 52 regions, they will take that decision. It's not for me to say I want to be a president [or not]. I never said that to them. So, they will decide what they want to do,' Jordaan said.
This is in stark contrast to what he said after his re-election in a landslide victory three years ago, when he implied that he had not wanted to run for president again and had only done so to groom a successor after Safa members had implored him to do so.
'That's one of the reasons why [some of the] members said 'you can't just drop the ball and go, you must have a succession plan'. I heard them and we agreed. It is not as if I woke up one morning and said I want a third term. That is far from the truth. I had accepted that I'd made my contribution,' Jordaan said in 2022.
Asked about those remarks in Parliament on Tuesday, Jordaan appeared perplexed. He said: 'When did I say this?… Members must nominate. We have to wait and see. I don't know whether they'll nominate me or not.'
With a large number of Safa's national executive committee members said to be personally benefiting, one way or the other, from Jordaan's extended stay at the association, he is likely to be nominated again – even though his presence is clearly a setback, in a number of ways, for the association. DM
