The President of the South African Football Association (SAFA), Daniel “Danny” Jordaan and two others have been arrested on Wednesday on charges of fraud and theft amounting to R1,3 million.

Jordaan and his co-accused, which include former Chief Financial Officer of SAFA, Grown Hluyo, former journalist and director of Grit Communications, Trevor Neethling and his entity (Grit Communications), appeared before the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court in Ekurhuleni on Wednesday.

According to the Justice and Correctional Services department, they were all charged with three counts of fraud, three counts of theft, and conspiracy to commit fraud and theft.

The allegations stem from a 12-month Service Level Agreement allegedly entered by SAFA, represented by Jordaan, and Grit Communications in December 2017 for the provision of Public Relations and communication services to SAFA.

The State alleges that Jordaan, in contravention of the SAFA statutes, signed the agreement that was neither sanctioned nor approved by SAFA, and that he and Neethling backdated the agreement to 01 October 2017.

According to the department, Jordaan is alleged to have employed Grit Communications for purposes of protecting his personal image following allegations of rape levelled against him in 2017.

He also allegedly acquired protection services worth over R40 000, seeminly to be for SAFA from Badger Security, during the SAFA 2018 elective congress, whilst these protection services were allegedly exclusively rendered to him.

According to SAFA regulations, Jordaan was prevented from doing so, as only the CFO and Chief Executive Officer of SAFA were authorised to sign contractual agreements.

“The PR services were already rendered to SAFA by its existing department that handled PR and communication.”

Despite full knowledge of the unauthorised and unlawful nature of the actions of both Jordaan and Neethling, it is alleged that Hluyo approved the payments to Grit Communications and Badger Security.

The accused were released on bail of R 20 000 each and will return to court on December 05, for disclosure of the contents of the docket.

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