Khoza at a loss over Blatter

27 September 2015 - 02:03 By MNINAWA NTLOKO

Former 2010 local organising committee chairman and SA Football Association (Safa) vice-president Irvin Khoza is still trying to make sense of the shock revelations at the weekend that Swiss prosecutors have opened criminal proceedings against embattled Fifa president Sepp Blatter. Blatter is being investigated over the sale of World Cup TV rights to the Caribbean Football Union, then run by his former ally Jack Warner, in 2005 in a deal that has been described as "unfavourable for Fifa".The beleaguered Fifa boss is also suspected of making a "disloyal payment" in February 2011 to Uefa president Michel Platini for work allegedly carried out between 1999 and 2002.Khoza said he has been following developments from a distance and has very little information on what is really going on in Switzerland.mini_story_image_hleft1"I just saw on TV that there is a criminal investigation. What it is about I can't comment because I don't have the facts, I don't have the extent of the facts," he said."So it would be very foolhardy for me to comment on a context which I do not have the basis. I mean, it would be difficult for me. What are the details, I don't know. If ever they are talking about a [disloyal] payment, what is it? So I don't understand. So if ever I get the facts maybe I would be able to understand, but for now I can't comment."Blatter was interrogated by officers from the Swiss Office of the Attorney-General at the Fifa headquarters in Zurich, while Platini has also been questioned as a witness.The revelations should cast a shadow over Platini, long considered to be the favourite to succeed Blatter as Fifa head.Khoza attended Safa's extraordinary congress here yesterday but returned to Johannesburg to watch his club Orlando Pirates play their crunch Caf Confederation Cup semifinal against Egyptian powerhouse Al Ahly at Orlando Stadium last night.Safa's long-running battle with schools sports affiliate, the South African Schools Football Association (Sasfa), was always going to provide fireworks at this congress and it didn't disappoint.The two bodies have been at loggerheads since Safa resolved in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, in March to withdraw Sasfa's licence to operate.Stunned Sasfa national secretary-general Steve Pila looked on as the decision was ratified inside the packed conference room at the Cape Sun."There is no Sasfa in our constitution," reiterated Safa president Danny Jordaan, without mincing his words.Pila said he was disappointed by the decision and the matter could have been handled in a far more dignified manner than it played out yesterday."Today I think Safa has finally disassociated itself with Sasfa," the visibly distraught official said."I really feel bad about this. It has always been my wish that things would not get to this. Initially when Sasfa applied for membership to Safa, we wanted to integrate football development at that level so that we are in sync with what the mother body is doing.story_article_right1"Naturally, if I was a decision- maker I would have integrated the two organisations to ensure that there is alignment rather than to say 'go your own way'."Personally, I am disappointed that after all that Sasfa has done in respect of identifying and developing players, the relationship ends this way. The relationship is not ending in a good way."Pila said they have an obligation to their sponsors and to the children who are participating in their programmes to continue operating until the end of the year. He denied that this course of action could be viewed as open defiance to the Safa decision taken here yesterday."We have contractual obligations to our sponsors and I do not think that Safa can take our intention to operate until the end of the year as defiance."I do not know, I really do not know. I am just disappointed as a person who has been involved in schools football from the beginning."Safa chief executive Dennis Mumble insisted that the decision was not personal and had nothing to do with football politics, as it has been suggested...

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