Ria Ledwaba wants a public apology from SAFA

The local football mother body had declared Ledwaba a ‘persona non-grata’ within the organisation in a letter dated 06 March and then withdrew that decision on Tuesday night after Ledwaba’s attorneys sent them a cease-and-desist letter.

Ledwaba says SAFA’s decision to ban her from football was defamatory.

"The one thing that I want them [attorneys] to write to SAFA and ask for an apology. I want a public apology, they have to apologise to me, apologise to South Africans, apologise to African people, apologise to the world that they've made a mistake. They must go there and apologise. I want that apology, if I do not get that apology, they have defamed me. I'm being portrayed as someone who is hungry for power, someone who is angry because I lost the election, that's what they put in the letter and nowhere in my dispute have I ever spoken about the election, whether somebody won or not, I've never," Ledwaba said.

READ: Ria Ledwaba calls on FIFA to appoint normalisation committee to SAFA

Ledwaba has had an ongoing legal battle with SAFA that started after she challenged the federation’s President Danny Jordan for presidency of the local football motherbody. She had raised concerns of irregularities in the amendment of the constitution leading to the SAFA Elective Congress, a case she lost at the South Gauteng High Court Division. Ledwaba says she’s concerned about the governance and not losing the election.

"I've never spoken about the election, whether somebody won or not, I've never. It's all about corporate governance, and how this governance committee has been elected because it has not been elected in terms of the rules. How the elections were not run by the chairperson of the governance committee.

“In their papers they say, no, the elections were run by the chairperson of the governance, it was not, it was run by Tselane but they say 'No, Tselane was only helping, was assisting the chairperson'.

“The chairperson probably doesn't even know how to run the elections but those are the things that I'm saying, enough. We cannot continue, this poor woman who's raising her voice on very important issues, I'm not raising matter for me, no."