Committee explains why Ria Ledwaba passed for Safa presidency race but not NEC

The governance committee that screened the candidates for this month’s SA Football Association (Safa) elective congress has clarified why vice-president Ria Ledwaba was accepted for the presidential race but not for the national executive committee (NEC).

Ledwaba, incumbent Danny Jordaan and Safa Tshwane president Ngoako Solly Mohlabeng were the candidates the committee vetted as eligible to stand in the presidential election at the June 25 congress. University Sports SA (USSA) president Nomsa Mahlangu was not approved as a candidate.

Committee member Shakespeare Hadebe said that Ledwaba was not eligible for the NEC race as she was not nominated for it by her host region, Safa Capricorn.

“Ledwaba was not nominated by [her] host region, as per article 25.9 of the Safa statutes, which indicate that for you to serve on the NEC you must be nominated by the host region,” Hadebe said.

“In Ledwaba’s case, Safa Tshwane nominated her for national [the NEC], and Ngoako was nominated as the presidential candidate by Safa Tshwane. So in that case, her host region is Safa Capricorn. 

“That’s the only reason she is not eligible to serve on the NEC, because this requirement is not applicable for the presidential candidacy.”

Governance committee deputy chair Tumi Dlamini said additionally Ledwaba had not accepted her nomination to the NEC.

“There’s also the second layer that those regions that nominated her to serve on the national list, we didn’t see the acceptance form for that nomination, which implied to us that she had not accepted to serve on the national, but had accepted to serve on the presidential race,” Dlamini said.

Chair of the committee Dr Victor Mogajane said in making their decisions they “looked at the scope of work, which required us to follow the statutes endorsed by the Congress of March 26”.

In screening the candidates to stand for president, the national executive committee (NEC) and provincial office, Mogajane said the committee screened 65 nominees, adding that four were for the presidency, 35 for the national list and 26 for the provincial list.

There were 52 male nominees and 13 female.

He said the criteria for the presidency, as per article 25.6 of the latest Safa statutes, were:

• you must be nominated by a region;
• once you are nominated, you must accept in terms of an acceptance form confirming you are nominated by a specific region;
• on submitting the form, the committee looks at due diligence in terms of SA nationality, identity document and criminal record; and
• they should at least have served in the association at a regional level or higher for more than 10 years.

Mogajane said Mahlangu was not cleared for the presidential race because she was nominated by a Safa associate member, USSA, and not a region, as stipulated in the rules.

Additionally, she completed a form from the Safa Umzinyathi region, but this was not accompanied by a nomination form from the same region.

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