Gladwyn White yet to know reasons why Safa suspended him

Suspended South African Football Association (Safa) national executive committee (NEC) member Gladwyn White has not received a formal letter outlining the reasons for his suspension, he said this week.

“There are people who’ve wanted to suspend me since 2024, and they’ve failed because they couldn’t find a way of doing it according to Safa statutes,” said White.

“They tried again twice last year, and they didn’t succeed. Now I hear from the media that I’m suspended, but I don’t have any formal notification. I will wait for it.”

A Safa emergency committee which met last Friday decided to suspend White with fellow NEC members Emma Hendricks, Monde Montshiwa and Orapeleng Setlhare after Safa’s March 7 meeting was abandoned, with factions for and against president Danny Jordaan almost engaging in fisticuffs.

That meeting descended into chaos because White and Montshiwa objected to the agenda being amended, insisting their own motions had to be debated first.

“They are the ones who collapsed the March 7 meeting. Unfortunately you can’t do that and blame others,” White retorted. “The pandemonium started when one idiot threatened Monde. They must be honest and produce a full video and transcripts of the meeting.”

White said he’d been told the emergency committee acted after complaints from four regions. “We have 52 regions, so when did these four meet and resolve to call for our suspension? We want to see minutes of their regional executive meetings.”

The decision to suspend the quartet will have to be ratified by the NEC, but cash-strapped Safa has not held an NEC meeting since October, with one postponed in December due to budgetary constraints.

Safa’s latest financial report has conceded calling an NEC meeting is costly, with more than R2m spent to convene one. The report, which Sowetan has seen, proposes that meetings be limited to just one day, which would cost about R500,000.

Sowetan