MUCH AT STAKE IN SAFA ELECTIVE CONGRESS

THE stage is set for the much-anticipated elective congress tomorrow when the South African Football Association (Safa) will go to the polls at the Sandton Convention Centre in northern Johannesburg.

The congress should proceed without hitches following last week’s extraordinary congress after members raised several matters to seek clarity on constitutional amendments.

Never has Safa hosted an extraordinary congress before elections, but it turned out to be a tool to smooth the way for the often-messy show. It was Safa’s way of ensuring that the elections would be free and fair.

In the run-up to the extraordinary congress, there were several attempts to stop the elections. Safa also had to deal with a fake smear campaign.

As the guardian of all football in South Africa, Safa is licensed by world-controlling Fifa to run football in the country. However, the licence is not a blank cheque, and the football federation must take responsibility for what should be done.

That should be uppermost in the minds of the voters from the 52 regions. Other voters include the Premier Soccer League (PSL), a body licensed by Safa to run professional football.

Apart from voting for a president, the members will also decide on the national executive committee (NEC), which decides how the national controlling body will be structured and its day-to-day operations.

There are several areas that Safa needs to focus on. Top of the to-do list must be improving relations between itself and the PSL. As things stand, several high-ranking PSL officials serve on Safa structures. PSL chairman Irvin Khoza is a Safa vice-president, and PSL acting CEO Mato Madlala serves on the NEC. There are four other PSL figures on the NEC.

With such overlap, the co-operation should be plain sailing, but it has been anything but that. In the past, the two organisations have clashed on several issues, to the detriment of South African football.

There are three candidates for the president’s post.

Danny Jordaan will be running for a third term of office.

He will be opposed by Safa vice-president Ria Ledwaba and Ngoako Mohlabeng, the president of Safa-Tshwane.