EDITORIAL | This article argues for Danny Jordaan’s re-election. Its assessments are editorial judgments; the result remains for eligible delegates to decide.
The endorsement and the stakes
Andile Lungisa has endorsed Danny Jordaan for re-election as president of the South African Football Association, declaring that the organisation should remain in the hands of those who have built and served within its structures.
“Our president is Danny Jordaan and he will be elected on Saturday,” Lungisa said in a post on X quoted by Sowetan. He also urged AmaZulu president Sandile Zungu to focus on building the club into a formidable team. [1]
The endorsement comes on the eve of the SAFA elective congress in Midrand, where Jordaan will face Zungu for the presidency on Saturday, 12 September. [1][20]
It also comes as Lungisa challenges his omission from the ANC’s candidate list for Nelson Mandela Bay, where he had been identified as a mayoral hopeful.
Lungisa has taken ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula and the party to court, arguing that his removal from the list disregarded an earlier ANC decision concerning his candidacy. Mbalula has described omissions affecting mayoral hopefuls as an error, without naming individuals in that explanation. Lungisa’s court application alleges a deliberate instruction to remove him and seeks legal intervention over his exclusion. [3][4][5]
A direct endorsement
Lungisa’s intervention forms part of a wider political divide over the association’s future. Sowetan reported on 10 September that African Transformation Movement leader Vuyo Zungula and MK Party MP Mzwanele Manyi had backed Zungu, presenting the contest as an opportunity for new leadership and stronger governance. [1]
Lungisa’s response starts from a different premise: participation in SAFA’s development structures and continuity in its leadership. His endorsement is therefore not simply a prediction about Saturday’s result. It is an argument about the institutional experience he believes should guide that result.
“We have been part of SAFA structures,” Lungisa wrote. “We will never allow newcomers to take over our organisation.” [1]
The language reflects the intensity of the election campaign, but it also identifies the central issue from Lungisa’s perspective.
SAFA is not simply a presidency waiting to be occupied. It is the national football association, supported by regional structures, leagues, affiliates and development programmes that have been built over many years.
Leadership of such an institution should be determined by those who understand its work and have participated in its development.
That is why Lungisa says Jordaan should continue.
The case for Jordaan
Jordaan is seeking a fourth term after almost 13 years as SAFA president. He has been cleared to contest the election against Zungu, who is the president of AmaZulu. [7][20]
The case for Jordaan rests primarily on experience.
He has spent decades in football administration and played a central role in South Africa’s successful hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He also has experience in the international structures within which South African football must operate. [8][9]
That background is not incidental.
SAFA is responsible for much more than the senior national team. It must coordinate football across regions and affiliates, support development structures, manage national teams, engage professional football and represent South Africa within CAF and FIFA.
The presidency requires the ability to work across that entire system.
It requires knowledge of constitutional arrangements, relationships among voting constituencies, national-team administration, development priorities and international football politics.
Jordaan has accumulated that knowledge over a long period.
His re-election would provide continuity at a time when South African football needs stability, stronger administration and a focused programme for improvement.
The challenge from Zungu
Zungu has presented himself as the candidate of change and has said his campaign has secured sufficient regional support to defeat Jordaan. That claim remains a campaign assertion until delegates vote. SAFA has 52 regions, but its voting constituencies also include associate members and the Premier Soccer League as its special member. A count of regional endorsements alone is therefore not a complete statement of the electoral arithmetic. [7][10]
Zungu has also raised allegations concerning regional victimisation, candidate disqualifications, financial inducements and the fairness of the electoral process. [11]
These allegations are serious, but they remain allegations. They must be tested through the proper governance and legal mechanisms and should not be treated as established fact without findings from the relevant authorities.
The formal position is that both Jordaan and Zungu were cleared to contest the presidency. SAFA confirmed their eligibility on 29 August. Describing Zungu as a “newcomer” is a political characterisation, not a finding that he is ineligible to stand. [20]
The election must therefore now be settled through SAFA’s recognised process.
The question for delegates is whether the association’s problems require a change of president, or whether they require experienced leadership with a renewed mandate to correct weaknesses and improve delivery.
Lungisa’s answer is clear.
The problems SAFA must address
Supporting Jordaan does not require pretending that SAFA has no difficulties.
The association has faced criticism over the time taken to appoint a Bafana Bafana coach, delays in implementing VAR in domestic football and questions surrounding the administration of national-team affairs. IOL’s 1 September commentary set out those criticisms; SAFA confirmed Pitso Mosimane’s appointment that same day. The coaching delay should therefore not be confused with an ongoing vacancy. [12][21]
Experience does not place Jordaan beyond legal scrutiny either. Daily Maverick reported on 3 September that his fraud case remained in the pre-trial phase. Jordaan has rejected the campaign against him as politically motivated. The allegations are not a conviction, and clearance to contest the election is not a judicial finding on the case. [8]
These concerns should be confronted directly.
The argument for Jordaan is that experience places him in a stronger position to address them.
A fourth term cannot mean that the association continues unchanged. It must mean that the president uses the mandate to strengthen administration, improve communication, resolve outstanding football matters and ensure that national teams and development structures receive the attention they require.
The demand from delegates should be performance.
But performance is more likely to improve under leadership that understands the institution than under an abrupt transfer of authority to a candidate whose national administrative record is still to be established.
The demand from delegates
should be performance.
Lungisa’s own institutional dispute
Lungisa’s support for Jordaan cannot be separated from his own dispute with the ANC.
He was identified as a possible ANC mayoral candidate for Nelson Mandela Bay, but his name was omitted from the list submitted for the local government elections.
According to reports on his court application, Lungisa argues that ANC structures had endorsed him and that the decision to remove his name disregarded an earlier approval. He has taken Mbalula and the ANC to court in an effort to challenge the omission. [3][4]
In his 8 September explanation of the wider list omissions, Mbalula said an error had affected mayoral hopefuls, without naming them. TimesLIVE’s report placed that explanation alongside reporting about Chikane, Lungisa and Mafu. That public explanation is distinct from a court finding on Lungisa’s specific allegations. [5]
The 11 September reports describe an application before the court, not a judgment resolving the dispute. [3][4]
It is important, therefore, to distinguish between the competing positions. Lungisa alleges that his removal was unlawful. Mbalula’s earlier public explanation concerned errors in the wider list process. It is for the court to determine whether Lungisa establishes his case and what remedy, if any, is available.
That legal dispute does not invalidate Lungisa’s SAFA endorsement.
Read alongside the endorsement, it suggests a common institutional principle.
Lungisa is arguing that an organisation must respect decisions taken through its own structures. In SAFA, he believes the established football community should determine the association’s leadership. In the ANC, he is asking the court to examine whether a decision affecting his candidacy was changed without proper authority.
The politics of the campaign trail
Lungisa has not confined himself to cautious political language during the current campaign season.
His SAFA endorsement and the allegations set out in his candidate-list application are direct interventions on organisational authority and who has the right to make decisions within institutions.
That directness gives these interventions a clear political character.
He is not presenting himself as a detached commentator.
He speaks as someone with a stake in the organisations under discussion, a history in ANC and ANCYL structures and an argument about the proper relationship between leadership and institutional legitimacy.
That is also why his support for Jordaan should not be dismissed as a casual political endorsement.
He is making a substantive case for continuity and against what he regards as an attempt to acquire influence without sufficient institutional grounding.
Why the decision matters
The SAFA election is not only a contest between Jordaan and Zungu.
It will determine whether the association continues under a president with extensive experience or moves towards a new leadership model whose promises will have to be tested in practice.
South African football needs reform where reform is required.
It also needs institutional stability, credible administration and leadership that can manage the national game without treating its existing structures as obstacles to be swept aside.
Jordaan’s supporters believe he offers that combination of experience and continuity.
Lungisa has now placed his name behind that argument.
His endorsement is especially notable because it comes while he is himself challenging a decision taken within another major institution. He is insisting that political and sporting organisations must be accountable to their own processes.
That is the standard he applies to the ANC and the standard he believes SAFA must uphold.
The vote on Saturday
The SAFA elective congress takes place on 12 September, with Jordaan and Zungu contesting the presidency. [7][20]
The eligible delegates will decide whether the association requires continuity under Jordaan or a new direction under Zungu.
For Lungisa, the answer is settled.
He believes SAFA should remain under the leadership of a president who understands its history, has participated in its development and can represent South African football in the country and abroad.
The argument for continuity should not place Jordaan beyond criticism.
It is that criticism should produce a stronger mandate, clearer accountability and better performance, not an untested transfer of institutional authority.
Danny Jordaan should therefore be re-elected as president of SAFA.
The association needs to correct its weaknesses, but it should do so under leadership with the experience to understand the work, the structures and the responsibilities that come with governing South African football.
Sources and further reading
This is an editorial argument, not a neutral election forecast. Quotations from Lungisa’s X post are attributed through Sowetan’s report. Legal allegations and campaign claims are distinguished from findings. The following sources underpin the factual reporting.
- Politicians divided on Jordaan-Zungu Safa race
- Lungisa takes Mbalula to court over removal from ANC list
- ANC NEC member Lungisa takes Mbalula to court over list omission
- Chikane left off ANC mayoral list in ‘error’, explains Mbalula
- SAFA presidential race is on: Jordaan and Zungu declared eligible
- Sandile Zungu ready to topple long-serving Safa boss Danny Jordaan in elections
- https://www.safa.net/general-news/safa-president-dr-jordaan-appointed-to-fifa-mens-national-teams-competitions-committee/
- SABC Sport: Sandile Zungu confident he has the numbers to win SAFA elections (7 September 2026)
- Safa election erupts as Zungu cries foul
- Delayed coaches and unused millions: Reasons why Jordaan should go
- SAFA: final list of eligible candidates (29 August 2026)
- SAFA: Pitso Mosimane appointed Bafana Bafana coach (1 September 2026)