The president of the South African Football Association (SAFA), Danny Jordaan, along with his two co-accused, have been granted bail of R20,000 each following their court appearance at the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, sitting at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
Jordaan’s co-accused were identified as SAFA’s chief financial officer, Gronie Hluyo, and businessman Trevor Neethling. The trio were arrested in the early hours of Wednesday on allegations of fraud and theft amounting to R1.3 million.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the accused are facing charges of fraud, theft, and conspiracy to commit fraud and theft.
The arrests come months after the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation executed search and seizure warrants on March 8, 2024, at Safa’s office in Nasrec, Johannesburg. During the search, a laptop, external hard drives, a USB, and documents were seized for further investigation.
IOL reported that, according to NPA spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane, the allegations against Jordaan stem from a 12-month Service Level Agreement (SLA) allegedly signed in December 2017 between SAFA, represented by Jordaan, and Grit Communications, a company owned by Neethling. The SLA was for the provision of public relations and communication services to SAFA.
“Jordaan is alleged to have employed Grit Communications for purposes of protecting his personal image following allegations of rape levelled against him in 2017.
“Furthermore, he allegedly acquired protection services worth over R40 000, purported to be for SAFA from Badger Security, during the SAFA 2018 elective congress, whilst these protection services were allegedly exclusively rendered to him,” said Mjonondwane.
SAFA vice president Bennett Bailey, who represented the current sitting SAFA NEC, asserted that the allegations against Jordan are part of a conspiracy to topple the current SAFA leadership. He dismissed the allegations, referring to them as “ghost theories,” SABC Sport reported.
“Let us not look for ghosts, then you want to develop a theory around ghosts, there’s no such thing, ” he said. ”And we are here to support him because we know exactly what the agenda is around this, and we will bring that out in court and I hope you will be here when we present the evidence – the agenda is to remove the current executive.”
