FILE PHOTO: Dr Danny Jordaan has come underfire after Bafana were defeated by Mali in their opening match in the Afcon competition. PICTURE: @ObieSwaden/X
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0 JOHANNESBURG: Cameroonian legend Samuel Eto’o has had his say on Bafana Bafana’s failures in Africa.
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has called for Danny Jordaan’s head as a South African Football Association (SAFA) president. “We must demand the removal of ANC deployed cadre Danny Jordaan,” wrote the populist leader on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“He single handedly disrupted and completely collapsed our football,” he went further, “It’s time to take action and put an end to this nonsense.” He made the clarion call a day after Bafana Bafana, a senior national team, had lost 2-0 to Mali in their 2023 TotalEnergies African Cup of Nations (AFCON) Group E opener on Tuesday.
The former ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president is not the only one who has voiced his frustration over the team’s loss; thousands of South Africans did, lamenting the players, coach Hugo Broos and SAFA. The firebrand, whose EFF is a third-biggest party, is an influential leader of his time.
The subject of his X post is an ANC member who had been deployed to Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) metropolitan municipality in Eastern Cape, where Jordaan, whose presidency has been mired in controversies, served as mayor between May 2015 and August 2016 . Therefore, there is a political context in his call. Jordaan has been at the helm of SAFA since 2013. His current, third term will come to an end in 2026.
The veteran football administrator has been criticised for an alleged financial mismanagement to the tune of $100 million (R450.762,816). Pleaded by FIFA, the money formed part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Legacy Trust.
In 2023, a forensic investigator by the name of Bart Henderson released a report entitled Offiside in which he says SAFA’s relationship with the trust was ‘less than ideal.’ Another blemish on Jordaan’s tenure is Bafana Bafana’s failure to qualify for the FIFA World Cup since the country hosted it in 2010.
He has also been criticised for a slow development of women’s football, more specifically, a lack of support for Banyana Banyana, who are the reigning African champions, and reached the last 16 of the 2023 women’s world cup in Australia/Zealand.
On the eve of the team’s departure to the World Cup, the players and the organisation were at loggerheads over, among other things, bonuses. Most recently, Cameroonian legend Samuel Eto’o has had his say on Bafana Bafana’s failures in Africa.
Eto’o, who is a president of his football federation, said he is baffled that Bafana Bafana constantly underperforms while the Premier Soccer League (PSL) is not only a well-run league, but also a best league in the continent. That was a subtle jab at SAFA, of course.
At home, Leeds United legend Lucas Radebe has made his intentions of running for the SAFA presidency known in the media, calling for new blood. Similar to Malema, he has called for Jordaan to resign or be removed, albeit cryptically.
Bafana Bafana have to put the their loss against Mali behind them and hope to regroup against neighbouring Namibia in their next match on Sunday, 21 January, in order to make it into the knockout stages. Following their loss, they are rooted at the bottom of the group.
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