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The current Safa Vhembe representative, George Kubayi, was not nomminated. Photo: Kaizer Nengovhela.

'Jordaan group' may have already won the Safa Vhembe battle

 

The battle between two factions within the Safa Vhembe region is heading for a showdown this weekend when the long-awaited regional conference and elections take place.

The two factions were at each other’s throats the past few weeks, with disruptions and even threats of court interdicts being the order of the day. The outcome of the weekend’s elections will probably show how the pendulum has swung between the old Safa Vhembe leadership and the new one.

The current leadership is being accused of running the association as their personal fiefdom, trampling on Safa’s constitution and flouting corporate governance principles.

The candidates who were nominated by the four Local Football Associations (LFAs) are supporting the current president of Safa, Danny Jordaan, who is aiming to be elected as president for a third term. The current leadership of Safa Vhembe is, on the other hand, supporting Ms Ria Ledwaba to be the new president of Safa.

The battle is set to play out at Munakisi lodge at Muledane on Saturday. A meeting of LFAs to submit the names of their nominated candidates took place in Thohoyandou on 6 May. The names were forwarded to the Safa’s national office. From the bits of information that could be gathered, two factions are vying for power in the Vhembe region.

The majority of Local Football Association delegates support Philbert Ndove as the new president and Sam Matodzi as the secretary, while the other group support the current leadership comprising George Kubayi as president and Mulimisi Muneri as secretary.

Safa instructed all regional associations to submit the names of nominees before 20 May. From what could be gathered, the names of Kubayi and Muneri did not appear in these lists. The regions were also instructed to hold their elections before 30 May.

The new Safa leadership is believed to want to fortify themselves in anticipation of problems. The coming elections have already caused instability in the Safa-affiliated association. The current leadership recently declared the nominations null and void, and ordered the process to start afresh, as many current executive members were unhappy about the processes followed.

Some of the members from different LFAs say that, as far as they are concerned, the 2022 Safa Vhembe elections are over, as Ndove and his group, who are their preferred candidate, will succeed. “The Local Football Associations have already taken a decision on who is going to lead Safa Vhembe. We know for a fact that the few LFA had separate meetings, where they declared their preferred candidate, and it was Ndove and his group,” said one person with knowledge of what is happening in the inner circles.

 

 

Date:27 May 2022

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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