A battle over who will become SAFA's next president has started, as fraud allegations and charges against incumbent Danny Jordaan stem from a power struggle.
That is according to SAFA legal representative Lesedi Mphahlele.
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Jordaan was arrested and charged with fraud, alongside Safa Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Gronie Hluyo and businessman Trevor Neethling, as they appeared before the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Palm Ridge, Johannesburg on Wednesday, for allegedly spending R1,3 million from the organisation's funds for his personal use.
Prior to the charges, newspaper reports alleged that the 73-year-old was lobbying to stand for a fourth term as president, ahead of the elections in 2026, with a revolt reportedly brewing in the SAFA regions.
After Jordaan was released on R20 000 bail, Mphahlele has suggested that the allegations against Jordaan are a "smear campaign" to have him removed as president, similar to charges in 2017 before the elections of 2018.
"First and foremost, this is a frivolous case. This has happened before, before the elections in 2017, where the President of SAFA was charged and two years later the matter was dropped," Mphahlele was recorded to be saying on 947's MSW.
"It was a clear ploy to charge the president, in order to pressurize him to step aside.
"The same thing has happened. This case centres around whether or not the president has the authority to sign on behalf of SAFA and that is the allegation some of the disgruntled members of SAFA are making.
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"It's another smear campaign. If you look at the list that was provided by the State, you go through the list of all 90 names and it's all former, disgruntled members of SAFA, who are trying to change the current leadership of SAFA for years now and have not succeeded and won't succeed this time around," Mphahlele stated.
The State alleges that Jordaan signed a service level agreement (SLA) with PR company Grit Communications for SAFA, which was not approved nor sanctioned by the organization and instead, the company has allegedly been employed to protect his own personal image after rape allegations in 2017, among other charges.