Zungu confident of victory in SAFA presidential election

Sandile Zungu says he is confident he has secured enough support to defeat incumbent Danny Jordaan in Saturday’s SAFA presidential election in Johannesburg.

A candidate needs the backing of at least 28 of South Africa’s 52 regions to win the presidency. Zungu believes his campaign has not only reached that threshold but has built momentum well beyond it.

“The campaign to elevate me to president of SAFA commenced well before I was roped in to become the face of it. It’s led by a formidable group of individuals leading regions and serving in the NEC, some of them,” said Zungu.

“It’s deeply embedded, when the campaign started we counted that the regions that we commanded were quite significant, feisty but possibly in the minority. We did not believe that our counterpart was necessarily commanding the majority either.

“In actual fact we believe that he commanded less than ours but there were a lot of regions who were in the middle who we call swing regions.

“We have done remarkable work to win the confidence and support of those swing regions. We have even done greater work to penetrate the no-go areas so to say. We are very confident that victory is certain, come the 12th of September.”

The contest places Zungu, who is challenging for the top position, against Jordaan, the current SAFA president.

Jordaan and his supporters sought to demonstrate their strength last weekend by publishing images of endorsements from regional leadership in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

However, Zungu says the show of support has not affected his confidence. He insists his campaign is targeting significantly more than the minimum required majority and is also seeking support among members of the National Executive Committee, associate members and special members.

“Fifty plus one is too low in ambition, we are aiming for much higher than that. It must be a clean sweep, by the way, we are not just talking about the regions, we are talking about winning the hearts and minds of NEC members who will be voting this time around,” he added.

“We’re talking about winning the support of associate members and special members and we believe if we add all of that, we may as well begin victory celebrations, so we are very confident.

“On that note I want to thank people who have come out in the open, I said to some of them, they didn’t have to come out and declare support for Zungu because we know the reactions can be quite harsh, suspensions and so on. They didn’t have to but they have come out because they believe so strongly in our campaign.”

Zungu said some regions had chosen to remain discreet about their preferences because of concerns over possible victimisation. He nevertheless thanked those who had publicly declared their support for his campaign.

The election will be held in Johannesburg this coming Saturday, with the outcome determined by the regional votes and the support of the other SAFA members eligible to participate.