Safa KZN chair backs Jordaan to defeat Zungu in presidential vote

Kwenza Ngwenya, the chairperson of the SA Football Association (Safa) in KwaZulu-Natal, says the province’s voting regions are set to support incumbent Danny Jordaan against AmaZulu owner Sandile Zungu in Saturday’s presidential election.

Jordaan is seeking to extend his nearly 13-year spell as Safa president, while Zungu is attempting to unseat him at the association’s elective congress in Midrand.

KwaZulu-Natal is Safa’s largest province, with 11 regions. At least seven of those regions are affiliated to Jordaan’s Football Transformation Forum (FTF) faction, according to Ngwenya, who is a close ally of the incumbent.

“He [Jordaan] has already won… we are just waiting for confirmation on Saturday. The reason I am saying he’s won is because we’ve worked very hard in mobilising the regions; so we don’t have any fear that Jordaan will win,” Ngwenya told Sowetan.

Ngwenya said the vote should be determined by the candidates’ ability to lead Safa rather than their regional backgrounds. Both men are from KwaZulu-Natal, with Zungu serving as the owner of AmaZulu, also known as Usuthu.

“This isn’t about the province of KZN … this is about SA. When we look at a candidate, we don’t look at where they come from; we look at their capabilities. We look at the track record.”

The Safa KwaZulu-Natal chair questioned whether Zungu had sufficient experience within the organisation’s structures to become president, while stressing that his comments were not motivated by hostility towards the AmaZulu owner.

“We can’t put a person [where he cannot operate]. I don’t know how to fly a plane, and if someone can put me in the plane and say I must fly it, that person would compromise me; and that’s the same with Zungu,” he said.

“He doesn’t have experience in Safa structures. I like him… in fact, I have a number of AmaZulu jerseys, but we can’t throw him [into the deep end].”

Ngwenya also argued that Safa had no need to change its leadership, pointing to what he described as improved performances by South Africa’s national teams and the arrival of new sponsors as evidence of Jordaan’s work.

“How do you fix a car that’s not broken? Jordaan has a good track record,” he said.

Jordaan is nevertheless facing a court case and allegations of financial mismanagement. Ngwenya acknowledged that Safa had experienced difficulties but maintained that the organisation was now moving in the right direction.

“I agree, Safa has struggled a bit, but now everything is going well… the national teams are doing well and the sponsors are flocking in; so why must we change leadership when things are going well? We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Zungu remained confident on Monday that most KwaZulu-Natal regions would vote for him. During a press conference in Sandton, he cited support in the province, particularly following a call from Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini for its regions to unite behind the AmaZulu president.

The outcome of the contest will be confirmed at Saturday’s Safa elective congress in Midrand.

An audio version of the story has been generated using artificial intelligence.