FOUL PLAY CALLED: Danny Jordaan contests for Safa president under fraud charge cloud

The South African Football Association’s elective congress is scheduled to take place on 12 September. Danny Jordaan is the favourite to win the presidential race, despite his ongoing fraud trial, which was once again postponed on Thursday, 27 August. It will resume in two months.

The fraud case involving South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan has once again been postponed.

This time, it was not the court that decided to suspend proceedings. The defence and the State reached an agreement to again pause the matter to allow for a high court hearing that may have a direct impact on the proceedings at the Palm Ridge Magistrates’ Court.

The latest appearance by Jordaan and his three co-accused was supposed to be for the hearing of a fresh Section 342A application, brought by the Safa leader alongside the federation’s chief financial officer Gronie Hluyo.

Their two co-accused, businessman Trevor Neethling and former Safa CEO Russell Paul, are not part of the proposed 342A hearing and are waiting for the formal trial to begin, to defend themselves.

In the Criminal Procedure Act, Section 342A reads: “A court before which criminal proceedings are pending shall investigate any delay in the completion of proceedings which appears to the court to be unreasonable and which could cause substantial prejudice to the prosecution, the accused or his/her legal adviser, the State or a witness.”

Jordaan and Hluyo’s previous attempt at having the matter struck off the roll on these grounds was dismissed by the sitting magistrate at the time, Sheron Soko-Rantao. It came in December 2024, shortly after their arrests, and the State successfully argued for its dismissal. However, the duo appealed against the matter at the high court, and it is set to be heard on 31 August.

“Both the State and the defence have mutually agreed that the matter which was supposed to be heard today be remanded,” State prosecutor Moagi Malebati told Soko-Rantao. “Sometime in 2024, a Section 342A was brought by accused one (Jordaan) and three (Hluyo). The said inquiry was heard before your worship, which you duly dismissed.”

“Accused one and three then decided to take the matter on review to the high court. Up to date, the high court has not dealt with that review. And your worship (Soko-Rantao) has been cited as a respondent in that matter,” Malebati said.

“We are also aware that the high court matter may not be finalised on Monday (31 August), especially as it will be sitting before a full bench. So, to mitigate this, we have decided to remand the fresh 342A for two months. Which means we will come back on 27 November 2026. We believe that by then, the high court judgment will have been given and we’ll know where to go from there,” the State advocate said.

Jordaan was arrested alongside Hluyo and businessman Trevor Neethling by the Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation unit on charges of fraud.

The State alleges Jordaan breached Safa protocol when the federation hired Neethling’s public relations company, Grit Communications, ahead of the 2018 Safa elections.