Compiled by Dylan Bettencourt
- Sandile Zungu lost the Safa presidency 157-82 to Danny Jordaan and says he will not challenge the result.
- Zungu criticised problems before the vote but accepted Jordaan’s victory despite claims some supportive regions were unfairly treated.
Sandile Zungu has accepted defeat in the Safa presidential election and says he will not challenge Danny Jordaan’s victory.
Jordaan won 157 votes to Zungu’s 82 at Saturday’s elective congress in Midrand.
The result gives Jordaan a fourth term as president of the South African Football Association.
But the election followed a controversial build-up.
A day before the congress, Safa CEO Lydia Monyepao told KwaZulu-Natal’s Harry Gwala region that it could not take part in the vote.
The region was rumoured to support Zungu.
There were also allegations that another region backing Jordaan was allowed to participate even though it had not held an elective congress.
Zungu said the process before voting was not good enough.
“The processes leading up to the adoption of credentials were less than satisfactory,” he said, News24 reported.
But he made it clear that he would not take legal action.
“I just accept that I lost the election. The winner was accepted as the winner.”
That is different from what happened after the 2022 election, when Ria Ledwaba and Solly Mohlabeng challenged Jordaan’s victory through the courts.
Zungu also refused to describe Jordaan’s win as a bad result for South African football.
“It is not a sad day,” he said. “At best, it will sound like sour grapes. I congratulated him.”
Zungu said South Africans could decide for themselves whether the result was good for football.
He also thanked the people, communities and organisations who supported his campaign.
Zungu has not ruled out another attempt at the presidency in four years.
“I am not sure. It’s still early to say, but honestly, I will sleep on it,” he said.
For now, he says the election is over.
“I really believe that we all fought a good fight. It was a positive fight.”
Pictured above: Sandile Zungu.
Image source: @Safa_Net/X
