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'Khoza launches power grab'

Johannesburg - According to a report in a weekend newspaper, Irvin Khoza has launched an audacious coup d'état to topple Kirsten Nematandani's regime at the South African Football Association.

Nematandani won the governing body's presidency in September 2009 after Khoza and Danny Jordaan were deemed to be ineligible to run for the position.

The Sunday Times reported on the weekend that the 'Iron Duke' is 'lobbying SAFA's regional structures to cast "a vote of no confidence" against the organisation's executive team' in a bid to claim the most powerful position in South African football.

It has emerged that Khoza, who is the chairperson of both Orlando Pirates and the South African Premier Soccer League, has approached the African National Congress, government officials and local clubs in a bid to destabilise SAFA.

The broadsheet alleges that Khoza has overseen 'deliberately wasteful expenditure of the cash-strapped body's finances', the 'sabotaging (of) soccer tournaments' as well as 'the creation of divisions within almost every section within SAFA, from administration to finance.'

The latest developments will not be welcomed by FIFA who are concerned that the power struggle may have a detrimental affect on World Cup preparations. World football's governing body had in 2009 implored SAFA to postpone their elections to avoid political instability.

Sources claim that Khoza is intent on completing the power grab to use SAFA's top job as a platform to the presidency of the Confederation of African Football and FIFA's executive committee. 
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