The South African Football Association (SAFA) president Danny Jordaan says they will not ask Patrice Motsepe to get involved in their match-manipulation case over the Ghana-Bafana 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
SAFA lodged an official appeal to FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) over the 1-0 defeat to the Black Stars which they allege the result was manipulated by referee Maguette N’Diaye after an independent report by former referee Ace Ncobo.
However, Jordaan says they will be making no direct calls to the CAF president as he represents the entire continent and his nationality should not influence their case.
“I have not spoken to him about this matter, he is the president of CAF and therefore he is the president of South Africa and the president of Ghana,” he said at SAFA House on Wednesday.
“We will place our matter before FIFA and build our case on an objective basis and that’s why we didn’t want to use anyone internally of our staff – who are quite competent people.
“We said no because you would write they are anyway on Safa’s payroll, so what do you expect? He [Ace Ncobo] is not on our payroll and now he’s saying he’s not on any payroll. He’s not going to give an invoice.”
Jordaan went on to state that they would not have leaned on the leader of CAF had been from another country and reiterated that they will fight their own battles with the solid appeal they have built for a potential replay.
“So that is our case and we should not involve opportunistically the CAF president. Because if the CAF president is not in South Africa, he’s from Cameroon or any other country, it would not have been a call to say, can’t you go to the CAF president,” Jordaan explained.
“We’re not going to him, he must not get involved, we’re a member of CAF and FIFA and we hosted the World Cup, we can fight our [own] battles, that you know. So we don’t help, we need facts, analysis and we have that.
“We thank Ace Ncobo for his contribution. As you said it was in the middle of the night after the game, but our blood was boiling and I thought no, we must deal with this issue and I called him. He immediately said yes, I can assist. So I want to thank him and we are very happy with the outcome.”
FIFA confirmed on Tuesday to The Athletic that they are undergoing an investigation over the final Group G clash which the West Africans advanced from to book their spot in the play-offs for Qatar 2022.
