Safa election for no change

Change we can't have. . . well at least for now we won't have someone like Burundi's Lydia Nsekera in the Safa presidential election.

I HEAR the voting for the new Safa president has started in Johannesburg as I start writing this blog in Bethlehem, eastern Free State.

Whoever wins between Danny Jordaan and Mandla Mazibuko will not bring any fundamental changes but retain the status quo of failure the two candidates were in charge of as vice-presidents of outgoing Kirsten Nematandani. The latter does not strike one as a powerful personality who could have blocked the ideas of Jordaan, Mazibuko and other Safa executive figureheads to advance the ideal of a better football nation in South Africa.

Nematandani became president for the sake of breaking the deadlock between Jordaan and Irvin Khoza the last time around, which explains why he was never part of the current race for the top post even though he’s eligible. 

To make matters worse, Nematandani’s election five years ago was declared a massive victory by a lobby which styled itself in the ideal of development and transformation. Mazibuko and Jordaan were the leading figures of this group, and remained comrades in the disaster which became Safa’s management these past five years, until just a few months before today’s election. For them to end  their comradeship does not cancel out the fact that together they were in charge of what I rank the worst period for the management of football in this country.

South Africa has a massive soccer public and it is disconcerting that at the time such a major decision is about to be taken about the sport the mood is of resignation out there. The people are tired of the merry-go-round which does not take our football anywhere. I don’t want to start listing the failures of the past five years on and off the field; they are well known and tedious to read about again, more so the lack of football for the junior national teams.

The public needs to be given hope, so concessions need to be made in the manner the president and the executive of Safa are elected. Failure to do so will foster the notion that those who are involved are self-serving and spend the length of their tenures consolidating their positions, and not serving the game.

Personally, I would like to see it being made possible that upstanding members of society who are not current leaders of Safa at any level be allowed to enter as wildcard candidates. All such candidates should be able to present significant amount of endorsement from football people in and outside Safa structures, and other interested parties. Safa must produce rules and regulations to quantify the amount of that endorsement, and also for the recognition of other interested parties.

The two candidates today have been around and are experienced enough to be in charge. But can’t we get real change, like when Kalusha Bwalya assumed the presidency of the Zambian FA, or when Lydia Nsekera took over the collapsed and banned Burundi FA? Hands up those who do not feel Bwalya’s step up came through like a breath of fresh air, not just for Zambia but African football as a whole. As for Nsekera, a car-repair business owner, her fixing skills in her country since 2004 have since been recognised by Fifa who welcomed her in its executive as the first female member ever.

This is what real change does. Let’s get it in South Africa as well, so that we can progress as accordance to our resources and abilities.