Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana enters the Safa presidential race

04 January 2018 - 11:36
By Marc Strydom
Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana during the 2013 Orange African Cup of Nations Local organizing commitee press conference from SAFA House on January 10, 2013 in Johannesburg.
Image: Lefty Shivambu / Gallo Images Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana during the 2013 Orange African Cup of Nations Local organizing commitee press conference from SAFA House on January 10, 2013 in Johannesburg.

Former South African Football Association vice-president Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana will run for the Safa presidency‚ SowetanLIVE has learnt.

Nonkonyana intends to contest the election on March 24‚ which current president Danny Jordaan has said he will stand for reelection in.

Nonkonyana was dismissed from his post as Safa vice-president in October 2014.

The outspoken administrator had been suspended by the association for comments made on then-Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund in October 2013.

Nonkonyana had suggested the coach should be fired if Bafana did not reach the final of the African Nations Championship (Chan) in Cape Town in January 2014.

Nonkonyana‚ 61‚ is a member of the Nonkonyana royal family and head of the of the AmaBhala Clan in the Eastern Cape.

He and Jordaan were once close allies in the so-called “Football Transformation Forum”‚ which backed the victory of Kirsten Nematandani in the Safa presidential election of 2009.

Former Bafana Bafana captain and Leeds United legend Lucas Radebe has also expressed his interest in running for the Safa presidency.