Sports minister Zizi Kodwa ‘very worried’ about developments at Safa

Sports minister Zizi Kodwa is “very worried” about the developments at the crisis-riddled South African Football Association (Safa). 

Last month, Safa’s headquarters in Nasrec, Johannesburg were raided by the serious commercial crime investigation unit (Hawks) in connection with allegations of fraud and theft amounting to R1.3m linked to embattled president Danny Jordaan. 

Safa responded to the raid by threatening to sue the Hawks for naming Jordaan as someone they were investigating. 

The Confederation of African Football (Caf), which is led by South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe, has also raised its concern about the respect for and image of the sport in the country.

Kodwa on Tuesday said he will meet the association’s officials to engage on the developments at Safa House. He will also meet former Safa vice-president Ria Ledwaba, who has called on Fifa to investigate Safa. 

Safa last month declared Ledwaba “persona non-grata” at the association but later withdrew that banishment.

“After my letter following a few incidents I saw in the public, I received correspondence from the CEO of Safa [Lydia Monyepao] indicating that the president [Jordaan] was out of the country,” Kodwa said. 

“The CEO indicated they will want the president, who was with Bafana Bafana in Algeria, to be present when Safa meets with me. I am ready to engage them because I am very worried about certain developments at Safa because they are not good for football in this country. 

“I can’t prejudice the leadership of Safa because I have not had an opportunity to meet them but I have said it publicly that I am worried about certain developments including the language that was used [by Safa] about Ria Ledwaba. 

“That language of banishment, persona non-grata, I asked myself, ‘What kind of language is this?’ Interestingly, Safa has withdrawn that — hopefully there will be an explanation for that but the point is that I am worried about developments in our football federation.” 

Kodwa said his meeting with Ledwaba, who has declared that Safa has collapsed, will be to hear her side of the story.

“She has been looking to meet me. At any time the diary allows, I will meet her like I met with boxing promoters today. She does want to meet me and I owe her an audience and I will meet her.” 

Kodwa was speaking after attending the Pretoria high court hearing into the National Professional Boxing Promoters Association's (NPBPA) court application against the Boxing SA board the minister appointed.