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Johannesburg - The fate of the SA Football Association’s (Safa’s) elective congress now lies in the hands of Fifa.
This follows Fifa representative Véron Mosengo-Omba’s visit to the country, during which he met the Safa leadership on Friday and presidential nominee Ace Ncobo yesterday.
Mosengo-Omba will compile a report and submit his findings and recommendations to Fifa. It might be some time before the country knows the outcome.
Mosengo-Omba’s visit follows last week’s “botched” truce by Council of SA Football Associations’ president Phillip Chiyangwa, who also met the two parties and made them sign an agreement.
But the agreement was soon thrown out because Safa insisted the congress should go ahead.
However, sanity prevailed after Safa’s national executive committee decided to postpone the congress indefinitely. It was scheduled for yesterday.
Yesterday, Ncobo confirmed his meeting with the “real Fifa” guy Mosengo-Omba, but could not provide more details.
“We are embargoed from issuing details of the meeting until he [Mosengo-Omba] has reported back to Fifa.
“I’m keen to know his submission and recommendation after the cordial meeting we had,” said Ncobo.
But even after winning the first round by forcing Safa to postpone yesterday’s elective congress, Ncobo said the matter was far from over.
“The congress should have been cancelled, not postponed,” Ncobo said.
“The reason it is postponed is for people to retain their nominations and this should not be case. The entire process must start from the beginning. The congress remains interdicted until and unless the electoral committee is duly elected, not appointed.”
Safa spokesperson Dominic Chimhavi yesterday said they were waiting for the go-ahead from the electoral committee on the way forward.
“The electoral committee, with Safa, will come up with a new date for the congress,” said Chimhavi.
He said the committee was constituted by some well-known legal representatives and sports administrators.
“With all the talk surrounding the elections, especially the media attention, we found it prudent to postpone it and thrash out all issues that might affect its credibility.
“Safa was within its constitutional right to go ahead with the elective congress as per a congress directive in December that decided to bring the Safa elective congress forward from September to March.”
Meanwhile, Ncobo wants Safa’s finances to be probed. He confirmed he had written to the department of sport and recreation to launch a forensic investigation into Safa’s finances.
“I can confirm that I wrote the petition to the department based on the findings of various people within the NEC and the regions.
“I believe there has been gross financial misappropriation. Safa and the Legacy Trust Fund don’t have auditors. It is illegal not to have auditors even for a single day,” said Ncobo.
Safa laughed off the allegations.
“Fifa sits on the Legacy Trust board and no cent can be used from it without Fifa approval. Insinuating misuse of Legacy Trust funds is alluding that Fifa is corrupt. I know the person who made those allegations, but the allegations are laughable,” said Chimhavi.
Ncobo said that, as much as it would be important for “football to undergo a self-corrective process”, government should also get involved.
