Safa withdrew the candidature of Jordaan from the elections for the presidency of Cosafa on Friday, and Safa president Kirsten Nematandani told snl24.com/kickoff it was to "preserve our dignity".Speaking to snl24.com/kickoff from Botswana on Friday, Nematandani said: "We withdrew our candidates on the basis that we felt we needed to keep our dignity. Because this is a secret ballot, you rely on the honesty of people and when you had doubt you don't try and say let me see where this is taking us, so we felt our candidates should withdraw and keep our dignity. I mean you don't vote for yourself so you rely on others."
Additionally, Jordaan told BBC Sport that he felt his "proposals to change the structure of Cosafa" were badly received by the organisation, and that "people were not ready for a new direction and a new vision".
Jordaan also told BBC Sport he would "spend more time strengthening my relationships [with other African administrators] on an individual basis."
But in a press release Safa now insist it was the "gratuitously hostile and aggressive attitudes against South Africa" that prompted Jordaan to withdraw.
"It was clear to us going into the election that it would be a very tight race. Of the 14 votes, South Africa was completely assured of six votes, with another four giving verbal commitments to our candidate. We were not, however, completely assured of these votes," Safa's communication reads.
"During the proceedings leading to elections, there were some members that expressed gratuitously hostile and aggressive attitudes against South Africa. On this basis the South African delegation decided that even if elected, Dr Jordaan would face a divided Cosafa, and that the nature of the changes he wanted to bring about in the organisation would require a strong mandate from the electorate. A narrow margin of victory would make it a difficult to lead such change.
"In the interests of unity, therefore, Safa decided to withdraw its candidate from the race, but at the same time expressed concerns about the process and some of the attitudes demonstrated by a minority of two."
Nematandani adds: "While we remain committed to building a strong regional caucus within Southern and Eastern Africa, we cannot and will not allow our leadership to be treated in a dismissive manner.
"We value and appreciate the significant international leadership that South Africa has exerted in international football.
"I also want to put it on record that statements flying around that we want to pull out of Cosafa have been taken out of context.
"All we said was that we are considering our participation to reach out on other continental regions like Cecafa [Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations] and Wafu [West African Football Union] as Cosafa has only one age group tournament. Otherwise, how do we solidify Cosafa by pulling out?"