South African tycoon Sandile Zungu cleared to challenge Danny Jordaan for SAFA presidency

The South African Football Association's independent governance committee has cleared Sandile Zungu to contest the presidency against Danny Jordaan at the elective congress on Sept. 12, ending a dispute over his eligibility that had run since May.

Victor Mogajane, who chairs the committee, confirmed on Friday, Aug. 28 that it received two nominations for the presidency and that both candidates were eligible. The vetting took 20 days.

The objection had come from inside the association. Poobie Govindasamy, chairman of SAFA's legal committee, said in May that Zungu could not run while retaining his ties to AmaZulu Football Club, which he owns, drawing a comparison with Patrice Motsepe, who stepped down as owner of Mamelodi Sundowns before taking the presidency of the Confederation of African Football. Bennett Bailey argued the opposite, saying Zungu qualified because he sits on SAFA's remuneration committee.

Bailey had intended to run himself. He withdrew in July and endorsed Zungu, citing his business record, and the former presidential hopeful Ria Ledwaba has also backed him. Bailey and vice-president Linda Zwane were both confirmed on the national executive list.

Jordaan has held the presidency since 2013 and is seeking a fourth term. He turns 75 on Sept. 3, nine days before the vote.

He is also facing criminal charges. Jordaan was arrested in November 2024 over the alleged misuse of about R1.3 million in SAFA funds, in a case concerning the hiring of a company owned by Trevor Neethling. The state alleges the money paid for polishing Jordaan's personal image ahead of the 2018 elections. Jordaan has maintained that the relationship was above board and served the federation. He appeared in court on Aug. 27 alongside Neethling, Gronie Hluyo and Russell Paul, and the case was postponed again.

Zungu has built his campaign on the association's finances. He has said SAFA suffers from a culture of misgovernance and a trust deficit with corporate South Africa, and that the sponsorships it attracts are insufficient in both quantity and quality, amounting to what he called sympathy sponsorships. The association must put its house in order, he has argued, before it can ask for better. His other stated priorities are women's football and the schools game, which he has said has all but vanished.

The business record behind that argument is substantial, and this has been an unusually large year for him. His consortium Sizekhaya Holdings took over South Africa's national lottery on June 1, and in May his investment company Zico joined a consortium that acquired Sumitomo's 54% stake in the Ambatovy nickel mine in Madagascar.

Zungu founded Zico in 2002 with no office, no employees and no address, and built it into a diversified holding company spanning manufacturing, property, education, sports, gaming and resources. He sits on the boards of the listed companies Grindrod and Novus Holdings, chairs EOH Holdings, chairs the Black Business Council, serves on the BRICS Business Council and the Presidential Black Economic Empowerment Advisory Council, and chairs the board of advisors at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. He became chancellor of Mangosuthu University of Technology in September 2022.

He was born in Umlazi township in Durban in 1967, matriculated at Hilton College, took a mechanical engineering degree and an MBA at the University of Cape Town, and completed the Program for Global Leadership at Harvard Business School in 2000. Before Zico he founded SARHWU Investment Holdings in 1997 and grew its net asset value past R400 million, then served as an executive director at NAIL as it became a R1 billion media company. He bought AmaZulu, one of South Africa's oldest clubs, in October 2020.

Not everything about the process is settled. Monde Montsioa, a former and suspended member of SAFA's national executive, has claimed some people are reluctant to back Zungu openly for fear of disciplinary action, and has raised questions about how elections were conducted in several SAFA regions. Joe Seanego, campaigning for Zungu, has called for a public debate between the candidates, asking how much longer Jordaan needs to demonstrate his capabilities after thirteen years.