Safa not happy with FIFA’s silent treatment

SA Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan is not pleased that FIFA continues to give South Africa the silent treatment after they submitted their complaint.

The Fifa committee met on Tuesday to discuss Safa’s complaint against Senegalese referee Maguette Ndiaye’s controversial handling of Bafana’s World Cup qualifier against Ghana in Cape Coast on November 14, and a frustrated Jordaan told TimesLIVE on Sunday that they are not happy that Zurich has not responded several days after a deadline set by Fifa.

“Fifa issued a statement saying they would give us a decision on November 23. What is the date today? It is November 28 isn’t it,” Jordaan asked on Sunday.

“The question is why have they [Fifa] not even communicated with us? Why?”

“They must explain to people around the world that the matter is a lot more complicated than they originally thought and they need more time to consider their decision. Remaining silent for so many days without any form of communication is not the way to go here.

“The fact that they [haven’t announced a decision] means there are other issues at play here. We asked Fifa for a thorough investigation [into Ndiaye’s conduct]. Other people [who are not South Africans] have come forward and added more information.”

“The statutes of Fifa say they must protect the integrity of their competitions,” the Safa president continued.

“So I think the matter has become more serious now. Ghana initially said our protest was frivolous. It is really strange that a federation attacks another in the manner they did. It is strange that they held a press conference and they attacked Safa.

“But the thing is we never accused them of anything. We wanted the referee, Maguette Ndiaye, to be investigated.” he concluded.