Andile “Ace” Ncobo has rubbished as lies statements by Safa chief executive Dennis Mumble and NEC member Poobie Govindsamy that he apologised for bringing the organisation into disrepute and that there were no objections during the extraordinary congress last weekend.

In a lengthy press release‚ Ncobo said he was disappointed that a video of his speech where he was making closing remarks was leaked to the public by Safa despite the fact that the congress was a closed session.

“Even though the congress was held as a closed session without any access given to the media‚ Safa has seen it fit to widely circulate the video of my speech‚” he said in his statement.

Ncobo said he never apologised for bringing Safa into disrepute and he will continue to raise issues whenever he feels that wrong things are happening at the organisation.

“I can never apologise for being me. And being me includes speaking when I feel like speaking and standing for what I believe in. In finalising the speech‚ I reiterated that I will continue raising issues when I feel that wrong things are being done. At no stage did I tender an apology to Safa as an organisation‚ least of all for “bringing Safa into disrepute” as the lies peddled by Mumble and Govindsamy purport to portray. I will never apologise for telling the truth‚” he said.

He went on to say that Mumble and Govindsamy lied to say that there were no objections to some of the issues that were raised at the congress. “It is also a lie that I and other delegates did not raise objections to any of the matters that were brought before congress. I wish to set the record straight and invite Safa to release the full audio recordings of the congress just as they released my speech to prove that there were no objections‚” he said.

“The only item we did not object to in the congress was the appointment of auditors. Even though we felt that shunning a 100% black-owned Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo in favour of Price Watershouse Coopers was not the right thing to do when all of us in this country are crying out for the radical transformation of the economy to favour the previously disadvantaged‚ this feeling was outweighed by the need not to delay the appointment of an auditor any further.”

Issues that Ncobo says were objected to at the congress are:

1. We objected to the amendments made to the Fifa Standard Electoral Code and contended that we were in fact not empowered to amend what is a universal document passed by the Fifa Congress for application by all member associations.

2. We specifically objected to the dubious insertion of a clause that removes the strict Fifa requirement of a 6-month period for the Electoral Committee to do its work.

3. We objected to the unlawful appointment of a so-called substitute Electoral Committee.

Safa spokesperson Dominic Chimhavi said they have moved on and don’t want to entertain worthless press releases.

“We have moved on from these futile sideshows. The 28 April 2018 congress showed a united front as never before. We are in the business of running football and we don’t do this through attention seeking with worthless press releases.”