" He only understands business": SAFA Veteran reflects on Zungu's loss to Jordaan

After losing to Danny Jordaan in the SAFA presidential race, Sandile Zungu has been advised by voting NEC members to learn the organisation from the ground before re-running for the elections again.

Tankiso Modipa believes Sandile Zungu’s lack of experience within SAFA’s grassroots structures ultimately counted against him in his unsuccessful bid to unseat Danny Jordaan as SAFA president.

Zungu, the AmaZulu president, challenged Jordaan for the presidency but failed to dislodge the incumbent at the SAFA elective congress .

For Modipa, a national executive (NEC) member SAFA and chairperson of the Football Transformation Forum (FTF), the result underlined the importance of understanding the organisation from the ground up before attempting to lead it at the national level.

“We were taught by our elders at SAFA that we can never have someone who comes from outside the regions to lead SAFA, for various reasons,” Modipa said.

He believes knowledge of SAFA cannot be limited to its national structures, arguing that an understanding of the organisation’s grassroots operations is essential for anyone seeking to become president.

“When you deal with issues of SAFA, it’s not just the higher structures, there’s lower structures as well. You need to understand from the lowest to the highest structures, which is the national side,” he said.

Modipa also stressed the importance of having someone who understands the South African football landscape before representing the country at continental bodies such as COSAFA and CAF.

“It cannot be correct that we get someone from outside SAFA to lead SAFA. We have our own integrity as SAFA to protect because we are competing with other countries in Africa, so we need someone who understands the dynamics of our country before we send them to COSAFA or CAF,” he said.

However, Modipa suggested that Zungu could still become involved in SAFA and build the experience needed to mount another challenge in future.

“If the opposition (Zungu) wants to integrate with SAFA, he must integrate at a local level and he must start from there and it will take him some time to understand the structure because he only understands business,” Modipa said.