Comment by Matshelane Mamabolo
THIS is not how it was supposed to end.
Danny Jordaan was meant to go into the sunset as a South African hero – and that should have happened years ago, way before his legacy as a top football administrator was to be tarnished as it currently is.
But then again, African leaders – be they in politics or sport – just don’t know when to quit, do they?
Had he done what he told me he was going to over lunch at the Michelangelo Hotel soon after the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Jordaan would probably not be suffering the current embarrassment of an arrest and a court appearance over charges of fraud.
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We’d just hosted the football spectacle – maybe a year afterwards – when I met up with Jordaan. This was before he assumed the SAFA presidency and was still the association’s CEO.
Roundly celebrated as the man responsible for ensuring Africa hosted the global soccer spectacle for the first time, he seemed content with his achievements. Surely, there was nothing more he could do to top that, right?
He was 60 years old then, a pensionable age, and – as we discussed soccer, life, God and children – he admitted to me that it was time to consider going out to pasture.
I had just graduated from Bible School then and I was toying with the idea of going into full-time ministry, and he being married to a woman of God actively involved in the church, Jordaan encouraged me to go for it.
Damn, he even said he was thinking of doing the same. After all – we agreed – both of us had accomplished much in this beautiful game of billions.
Far from retirement as I was then, I’d achieved all the goals I’d set for myself in the soccer journalism industry, and it made sense to go and serve Lord Jesus Christ full-time.
But it made much more sense for Jordaan, whose work at the South African Football Association (Safa) spanned many years, most of which were pretty fruitful.
I even offered to ghost-write his autobiography – convinced that he’d done it all, and that this was a story worthy of telling. He seemed to like the idea.
Well, I quit full-time journalism about six years later to go freelance. I did not go into full-time ministry.
Jordaan, on the other hand, went on to become Safa president just two years afterwards – a position that brought with it much more power than the CEO role he’d previously held.
He became the head honcho of the country’s football, and while there can be no denying that he saw to a lot of improvement – particularly in women’s football, as our senior national team went to major events and even became African champions under his watch – there have also been some serious setbacks, with the association reportedly bleeding money.
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Allegations of funds misappropriation – particularly the 2010 World Cup Legacy Fund – abounded, with the Fun Valley project being said to have been a total waste of money not worthy of the millions it is said to have cost.
Former Safa vice president Ria Ledwaba projected Jordaan as some kind of “dictator” who did not tolerate anyone who dared question him.
During her campaign for the Safa presidency, Ledwaba told stories of how the president did as he pleased.
She lost that battle dismally, with Jordan winning the elections by a landslide, Ledwaba having earlier been declared persona non grata by Safa and later being “banned” from the sport. The decision was later rescinded.
Now there are these official charges, and Ledwaba is among the many witnesses against the Safa president.
Jordaan is being accused of using the organisation’s resources for personal gain, including hiring a private security company for personal protection and a public relations company without the board’s authorisation.
“The president is also reported to have violated Safa statutes, thus prejudicing Safa an actual loss of R1.3 million,” Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale told the media a few months ago when they had raided the Safa offices.
Whatever the courts rule, I have a feeling Danny must be thinking “it should not have gotten to this”, particularly if he recalls that lovely exit-plan conversation we had fresh after he’d masterminded arguably the biggest feat of his football administrative career – ensuring we hosted football’s crown jewel, the FIFA World Cup.
You should have gone into Christian ministry, Danny. ‘Pastor’s husband’ has a beautiful ring to it. Much better than ‘the accused’, right?