State confident of securing convictions against Safa chief Danny ...

On Wednesday, the same day that Premier Soccer League (PSL) chairperson Irvin Khoza was re-elected unopposed for another four years into the position which he has held since 2003, long-serving South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan appeared at the Palm Ridge Magistrates’ Court on charges of fraud and theft.

Jordaan has been at the helm of Safa since replacing the disgraced Kirsten Nematandani in 2013.

Three years after Jordaan replaced him as Safa’s boss, Nematandani was banned for five years from soccer by Fifa after the global governing body’s ethics committee found that he had played a part in fixing Bafana Bafana’s friendly matches ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Now Jordaan faces criminal charges. He was arrested on Wednesday, alongside Safa chief financial officer Gronie Hluyo and former journalist/businessperson Trevor Neethling (who is the sole director of public relations company Grit Communications).

They are each charged with three counts of fraud, three counts of theft, and conspiracy to commit fraud and theft involving about R1.3-million.

After arguing that they were not flight risks, they were each granted bail of R20,000 and ordered to reappear in court on 5 December. Hluyo and Neethling were ordered to surrender their passports, while Jordaan can retain his due to his responsibilities. However, the Safa president has to provide the investigating officer with a written itinerary at least 72 hours before departure when his work takes him out of the country.

The State alleges that Jordaan “acquired protection services worth over R40,000, purported to be for Safa from Badger Security, during the Safa 2018 elective congress, whilst these protection services were allegedly exclusively rendered to him”.

Furthermore, it alleges that Jordaan, on behalf of Safa, illegally signed off a service level agreement with Grit Communications in December 2017. The State says this was peculiar as Safa already had an internal public relations company.

“We are alleging … that the agreement that they [Safa and Grit Communications] entered into was unlawful and unauthorised,” National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane told journalists after Wednesday’s court proceedings.

“Mr Jordaan had no capacity to sign such an agreement. The two authorised personnel are the chief financial officer, as well as the chief executive officer,” said Mjonondwane.

“Further, as the State, we are alleging that an amount over R1.1-million was used for [Jordaan’s] personal gain, wherein Grit Communications was not authorised to provide PR and communications services to Safa. Therefore, such services were provided for in his own capacity. It was for his own benefit.”

The State alleges that Jordaan “employed Grit Communications for purposes of protecting his personal image following allegations of rape levelled against him in 2017”.

A month before the date of the agreement, Jordaan was the subject of a rape accusation by singer Jennifer Ferguson. At the time, the artist and former ANC member of Parliament alleged that Jordaan had sexually assaulted her in the early 1990s.

Ferguson opened a case against the Safa president in 2018, but Jordaan dismissed this as a smear campaign by his rivals, accusing PSL boss Khoza of heading it. Khoza denied this and the matter was eventually thrown out of court.

Mjonondwane said that this time the State, which has as many as 19 witnesses, had ticked all its boxes and was confident of successfully prosecuting Jordaan and his co-accused.

Jordaan has long been accused of abusing his power, misusing Safa’s resources and squashing those who challenge his authority — allegations which he has denied.

Safa and Jordaan had already approached the courts to review the merits of the Hawks’ raid at Safa House in March, an action which they said was “unlawful and malicious”. The matter is currently being finalised by the Gauteng Division of the High Court.

“I intend to plead not guilty to all the charges and I believe that I will be acquitted because the State has no case at all against me,” said Jordaan in an affidavit.

“I am of the well-considered view that this arrest is an abuse of process, because of the pending review at the high court. This is because if the court finds in our favour, I would have suffered irreparable harm by this arrest… I can only presume that these charges were laid by disgruntled former employees of Safa.”

His co-accused also categorically denied all charges levelled against them, via their affidavits.

Neethling said the allegations against him and his company were “frivolous, unfounded and lack any merit in law or fact”.

“Having considered all the facts and circumstances, it is clear that Grit Communications and myself are collateral damage of factionalism and infighting within and outside Safa. I condemn and appeal to the individuals who are using my name and Grit Communications not to involve us in Safa’s battles,” stated Neethling.

In his affidavit, Hluyo proclaimed: “I have not committed the offences of which I have been accused… I am confident that the State will dismally fail to prove their case against me, because there will be no objective evidence to support their case against me. I will be acquitted at the trial.”

While Jordaan and his co-accused battle to save their reputations, Safa has taken yet another reputational knock. DM