High hopes for the President: Danny and me |
THE breathtaking betrayal of South African football is
neatly summed up in two minutes on a cell phone with SAFA president Danny
Jordaan - just 24 hours before another humiliation for our national team.
At the end of a rocky week which saw our top football
administrator co-opted by the ruling ANC to become mayor of his home city,
Jordaan launched in with: “I have never been paid a cent by the South African
Football Association.”
Seconds later, he was detailing how, just this year, he was
“awarded R80,000 after tax” by SAFA officials.
Confused? Obviously. We all are. Jordaan and his acolytes
have been on the warpath ever since his elevation to mayor of Nelson Mandela
Bay municipality was announced. Text messages, tweets and phone calls designed
to hush my voice of utter disappointment have been flying faster than Bafana Bafana
goalkeeping changes.
But Jordaan, typically, sees no contradiction between “not
being paid” and “receiving an honorarium” from SAFA. Just as he sees no
difference between “political bias in football” and “being appointed mayor by
the government”. Just as he cannot understand why “I can do both jobs” jars
heavily with “I need more time to achieve my objectives at SAFA”.
And yes, there he was the next day, shaking hands with Shakes Mashaba's Bafana Bafana before a penalty shoot-out defeat against Botswana in the COSAFA Cup quarter-final on home soil. For clarity: Botswana are ranked 105 in the world, Mashaba has not won in five competitive games and we are going backwards at an alarming rate. But Jordaan feels none of my desperation.
The man is a walking conundrum. He is able to say one thing
and do another without blinking an eyelid. But do not mistake this for a
hatchet job. Danny and I have been close since before the World Cup in 2010, we
have lunched together on several occasions (see picture above), he was my preferred choice for SAFA
president when the unlamented Kirsten Nematandani stood down.
I really thought Jordaan would sweep through the mess that
is South African football. That he would sort out the match-fixing allegations
so boldly laid out by FIFA; that the FIFA World Cup legacy fund – showing a
balance of more than R350m when he gave me copies of the account – would be
used to develop our game from the bottom up.
Sadly, Jordaan has achieved NOTHING since his
appointment. Something I believed impossible. To the match-fixing and the
legacy fund nightmares, we can now add a host of new problems which have arisen
since Jordaan took office.
It was never going to be easy. In our discussions, Danny
told me how – before the fall of Apartheid –he was summoned to the ANC in exile
in Lusaka, and asked by the late Oliver Tambo, to “look after our sport,
particularly football” when freedom came in 1994.
In one emotional exchange, Jordaan – banned by the old
fascist government – told how he was forced to go underground only to be told
when democracy came “you are not black enough to run football in South Africa”.
But Jordaan battled through. Elected to serve as an ANC MP
in the 1994 elections, he stood down in 1997 to oversee the Cape Town Olympic
bid which never quite made it. He went on to spearhead Sepp Blatter’s great
ambition – to bring the World Cup to Africa. In 2010 he received great credit
for his role in a near-faultless tournament but in truth, it was Blatter’s
triumph, and Jordaan’s closeness to Jerome Valcke did little more than make our
nation more profitable for the dictatorial guardians of the global game.
Becoming president of SAFA was supposed to be Jordaan’s
crowning glory. His attempts at progressing up the slippery slope of Issa
Hayatou’s Confederation of African Football failed utterly but he still had
SAFA and promises.
When he appointed Shakes Mashaba to run our national team a
year ago, Danny fully recognised the risks. He told me “Shakes needs technical
help. I will be sending him to see FIFA’s technical guru Gerard Houllier and we
will be appointing a Techinical Director to help.”
Of course, neither of those things happened, and South
Africa returned from AFCON in Equatorial Guinea earlier this year with a single
point after an impressive qualifying campaign. Technically, Bafana were woeful.
Mashaba actually boasted about changing goalkeepers three times in three games,
his inability to grasp modern tactics was there for all to see, the team
disappeared for days after a disastrous exit.
But fawning SAFA officials insisted on lauding Shakes for “a
great AFCON” despite producing the worst showing of the 16 qualifying nations
despite leading in all three group games. Mashaba went in to the tournament
promising victory, he returned to offer a report on the event which never
reached the public sphere.
Jordaan insists everything is still in hand. When he rang
me, I was about to board a flight at King Shaka International airport. My notes
are dotted all around a page of the newspaper I was reading in the departure
lounge. It makes for difficult reading if you’re a Jordaan fan, as I had been
up to his “mayoral appointment”. I guess I was hoping for a sudden burst of
success, a miraculous solving of our problems. Not anymore. Not when you look
at the problems facing the FOURTH mayor of his home town in a trouble decade of
corruption and incompetence.
Jordaan says: “Neal, you must get the facts right, you must
not rush to conclusions. I can’t appoint a Technical Director until we have
built a new Technical Centre (an R65m development south of Johannesburg). Dennis Mumble is in charge of that. We are having
problems with the paperwork.
“But you cannot appoint the doctor until the hospital is
built. When the new Technical Centre comes on-line, we will appoint the
Technical Director.
“Houllier? I’ll be speaking to him at the FIFA Congress next
month (when Blatter is likely to be voted in once more) or at the World Cup
draw. I’m sure I’ll be able to persuade him to come and speak to Shakes.”
A year later, and this is the level of “service delivery”
Nelson Mandela Bay’s new mayor can offer. How about the gun amnesty for our
Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa, promised after he was shot and killed at Kelly
Khumalo’s house last year? And the statue Danny promised to build from the
melted down weapons?
“Look Neal, what I can tell you is the government has
promised to review the legislation on gun ownership as a result of pressure
from SAFA. That is our tribute to Senzo.”
Again, that painful gap between reality and truth. Like the
payment issue. There was widespread disbelief when Jordaan insisted he was not
paid by SAFA. And he’s at it again on the phone: “I have no SAFA credit card. I
have no SAFA petrol card. I work for nothing as a non-executive President.”
But when I ask him if he received money from the ANC he
admits to the honorarium: “Every year when we pass the financial report, SAFA
delegates agree to a “gift” for all National Executive members. The amount
varies. But I can tell you that, after tax, the last one came to R80,000, but
that’s over a 12 month period.
“Nobody owns me. Nobody pays me. I have FIVE houses, all
paid off. I have two cars, all paid off. My wife and my son work. You are
asking me personal questions about my income and I am answering them.”
But he’s not. Jordaan tells me how he used to be a
university lecturer and a member of parliament, but he doesn’t explain how that
paid for five houses and two cars. Clearly there were some significant
“honorariums” in previous years.
But a steady income is just around the corner. He tells me:
“I am not the major of Nelson Mandela Bay yet. I still have to be confirmed in
the role, but I will be paid a salary by the municipality from June, I think.
“There is no political problem with me running SAFA and Port
Elizabeth. Many SAFA members have political roles, not just with the ANC. And
internationally, many FA officials have political affiliations.
“You must relax Neal, it will all be fine. I can do both
jobs. You must come down to Port Elizabeth, I’ll show your around the offices.”
And how else do you end such a call, other than: “Okay
Danny. Best of luck. I think you might need it.”
And you put down the phone. And put your head in your hands.
This is a great and illuminating article. Jordaan, just like all the others on the gravy train will make promises to get what he wants and not follow through.
ReplyDeleteWhy does this not get more coverage.
Good job Neal