Danny Jordaan didn't just win — he won by a margin that made the whole contest look like a foregone conclusion. The incumbent SAFA president crushed challenger Sandile Zungu 157 votes to 82 at Saturday's elective congress at Vodacom World in Midrand, securing a record-extending fourth consecutive term at the head of South African football.
Zungu had noise on his side. Before proceedings began, a vocal crowd chanted and sang outside the venue in his favour, and he carried the public image of a man ready to drag SAFA into a new era. But public sentiment and delegate votes are two very different things — and in the rooms that matter, Jordaan's machine had been running long before anyone cast a ballot.
The result was settled before voting began
The majority of SAFA's 52 regions had reportedly already committed to backing Jordaan's "Football Transformation Forum" slate ahead of the congress. His campaign was described as watertight. Zungu's, for all its promise of renewal, never cracked the regional bloc that Jordaan has spent over a decade cultivating since taking over the association in 2013.
Four regions — Harry Gwala, Amajuba in KwaZulu-Natal, Sarah Baartman in the Eastern Cape, and Pixley Ka Seme in the Northern Cape — were disqualified following a Friday night NEC meeting and never made it to the vote. All four were reportedly aligned with the Zungu camp. Only 48 of the 52 regions were present on the day. That subtraction alone significantly narrowed Zungu's ceiling.
Security was significantly heightened across the venue following reports of potential disruptions ahead of the congress. That the event proceeded without incident was itself a minor victory for the organizers.
- Final vote: Jordaan 157 – Zungu 82
- Four regions disqualified before voting: Harry Gwala, Amajuba, Sarah Baartman, Pixley Ka Seme
- Voting cohort: Regional representatives, associate member associations, and the PSL as a special member
- Samlfa excluded, membership and voting rights placed in abeyance
What another Jordaan term actually means
Jordaan has now been at the helm of SAFA since 2013. South African football in that period has lurched between moments of promise and persistent structural frustration — Bafana Bafana's continental standing has barely shifted, and the domestic game's global relevance remains limited.
Zungu's campaign leaned on the idea of a revitalised future without turning it into a referendum on Jordaan's controversies. Whether that was smart politics or a missed opportunity is debatable. What isn't debatable is that the strategy didn't move enough delegates.
Jordaan is now the longest-serving SAFA president in the association's history. The mandate is his. The results, when they come, will be too.
