I didn't do it: Danny Jordaan

Soccer boss Danny Jordaan has denied allegations by former ANC MP Jennifer Ferguson that he raped her 24 years ago.

His lawyer Mamodupi Mulaudzi said on Wednesday the SA Football Association president said he had kept quiet on the matter because of his "empathy" with the victims of gender-based violence.

"Dr Jordaan has, however, after careful consideration decided to assert his innocence. Although Dr Jordaan supports public debate as an essential tool to highlight the issue of gender-based violence. in this case there are two opposing versions that cannot be resolved in the media, or elsewhere, in substitution for a court of law."

Jordaan said the mediation process Ferguson offered him ran the risk of the public perceiving a cover-up away from the "glare of public scrutiny". His lawyers said they had advised Jordaan not to speak publicly.

"From a legal viewpoint, serious allegations of the kind made by Miss Ferguson can be ventilated only in a court of law, where the rights of all are protected," Mulaudzi said.

Ferguson, who now lives in Sweden, claimed Jordaan raped her more than 20 years ago. She said she believed Jordaan was afraid of more women coming forward.

"I think that is what Danny is most afraid of because he is not coming clean and he doesn't know how many more are going to come out.

"I can tell you now South Africans are not idiots. They have a nose, they can smell when there is bullsh*t but what we are sitting with is a patriarchal society that says 'but that's what men do'. We need to stop that," Ferguson said.