Danny Jordaan says there’s nothing sinister about Walter Steenbok’s DC hearing

Steenbok will face five charges in the SAFA DC scheduled for Sandton tomorrow, this includes Gross misconduct based on gross mismanagement, gross negligence, gross dereliction of duties, and gross insubordination.

Questions have been asked about the procedure followed on these charges against Steenbok following reports that they were discussed in a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, but Jordaan says there’s nothing sinister about them.

"Well, it's an administration issue, every place where you work, you have people going to the DC, there's nothing wrong with it. Mandela went to the court, do you remember? He went to the court and he had to answer. There is nothing sinister and there's nothing wrong with it," Jordaan said.

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Other charges are Gross misconduct based on gross insubordination and Gross misconduct based on breach of SAFA’s statutes and international policies and procedures.

The charge sheet, which SABC Sport has seen, outlines the allegations Steenbok will have to address. These include his treatment of SAFA head of women’s football Romaney Pinnock and the alleged humiliation of NEC member David Molantwa in a series of emails. 

Despite these charges, Jordaan has acknowledged the positive contributions Steenbok has made since joining SAFA in September 2022.

"He's done a great job and he's still continuing to do a great job. We never had so many A-licence coaches in our country. We always said in order to transform football in our country, we must have more qualified coaches. When we started, we had no qualified coaches in the country even in the Premier League [PSL]," he added.

According to reports, Molantwa was present in the NEC meeting in Bloemfontein a few weeks ago, which directed SAFA CEO Lydia Monyepao to initiate this DC hearing against Steenbok.

The DC case against Steenbok comes at a time when he’s been transforming South African football.

He successfully brought back the CAF A and B licenses after an absence of more than six years.

In less than two years at SAFA, the former Mamelodi Sundowns, and Kaizer Chiefs chief scout has revived and set up technical programmes through the assistance of FIFA’s Technical Development Scheme (TDS).