South Africa reinstates Football Association President

 South African reversed the suspension of the SAFA officials.

The South African Football Association, SAFA, has reversed all decisions made by its emergency committee with regards to a FIFA match-fixing report.

The SAFA’s emergency committee had suspended five of its members, including the President, Kirsten Nematandani.

The reversal was made on Friday at a meeting by the members of SAFA’s National Executive Committee, NEC; with the Sports Minister, Fikile Mbalula, in attendance. The meeting overturned the suspension of all the five top officials of the body and reinstated them.

The five were suspended after FIFA released a match-fixing report involving the South African national team in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup.

The NEC met with the suspended officials at SAFA House and took the decision to lift the suspension. The meeting also decided that the emergency committee that recommended their suspension was rash in taking the decision.

Nematandani said that the decisions of the emergency committee were reversed because they did not follow due process.

“Though the emergency committee meant well, but we leave in a democratic society whereby everybody has the opportunity to defend himself and normal procedure should be followed.

“We all want to do well but sometimes we get carried away,’’ Nematandani said.

SAFA will now refer the matter to the appropriate standing committee which will only sit after the African Cup of Nations, AFCON, which will end on February 10.

In his reaction, the sport minster said a judicial commission of inquiry might be set up to investigate the scandal.

“The number one priority for South Africa remains the Africa Cup of Nations for now. `But one can’t help being a little perplexed by the goings on at SAFA House. The perpetual leadership struggle which was alluded to remains constant in all of this.

“We are not ruling out a judicial commission of inquiry in future, but that has to be after the AFCON,’’ Mbalula said.

It will be recalled that in a FIFA report, some SAFA top officials were implicated in match-fixing in some of the Bafana Bafana warm-up games ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

NAN