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‘Sexwale doesn’t stand chance against Jordaan’

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Tokyo Sexwale has been tipped as a candidate for the Fifa presidency. PHOTO: Markus Schreiber
Tokyo Sexwale has been tipped as a candidate for the Fifa presidency. PHOTO: Markus Schreiber

Johannesburg - The Football Transformation Forum (FTF) has politely told Tokyo Sexwale to forget about standing for the presidency of the SA Football Association (SAFA) and to also stay away from football.

In a hastily arranged press conference this week, the forum’s leadership advised Sexwale, not in so many words, to stick to what he knows - business and politics - and leave football to football people.

The forum also took a swipe at the National Football Consultative Forum (NFCF), which put Sexwale’s name forward to challenge Danny Jordaan for the SAFA post.

“It’s like hiring a coach who doesn’t know anything about the rules of the game,” said FTF secretary Mzwandile Maforvane.

He said no one was going to stop Jordaan from retaining his seat.

“Whoever wants to contest must forget it because we have more than 40 nominations already. In fact, they must start preparing for the next elections because this one is over as a contest as far as the position of president is concerned.”

He said the NFCF was constituted by non-football people who did not even know SAFA’s constitution.

“How do you become a media person when you know nothing about the industry? If I apply for a job in one of the companies, the expectation is that I should understand where the offices are and what kind of a job they do.

“Do you really think they deserve to lead SAFA when they don’t understand the constitution and the electoral code of the associations?” asked Maforvane.

“They don’t even know the regions they want to serve. If they don’t understand the simple statutes of the association, how will they govern?”

The FTF also rejected the businessman’s olive branch after Sexwale called for unity and for the two groups to work together.

With 40 regions already in the bag, the FTF said this was a clear sign that the regions were united and did not need anyone to preach unity to them.

Maforvane said people were just going with the mood in the country.

“You know there is always a buzz word and people catch on quickly. Before it was radical economic transformation and now it is all about unity because of what happened at the ANC conference. They are using it, hoping the same result the ANC had in December will materialise about football.”

He said those who were calling for unity were, in fact, divisive and confused.

“They are actually dividing the same house that is already united. They should be able to make sense and not confuse people.”

In a rather bizarre move, the FTF has asked its members to send copies of their nomination forms to the forum instead of the chief executive’s office or auditors. They defended the stance, saying regions were not forced to submit their copies.

“Before people say we are collecting nominations because those forms go straight to the auditors‚ we have asked those (FTF-aligned) regions to send us copies,” said the forum’s Mxolisi Sibam.

He said it would prove their numbers did not lie “and has nothing to do with not trusting”.

“This is voluntary. Our aim is to prove we have the numbers. The FTF is based on principle and trust.”

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