Spotlight on term limits, as rumours of Danny Jordaan going for fourth term loom large

Speaking during the press conference held at SAFA House earlier this week, to declare support for CAF President Patrice Motsepe’s re-election next year, the issue of term limits on the continent took centre stage.

The discussion follows reports from last weekend that Jordaan has started to make moves for a fourth term.

Responding to a question about term limits in football, Jordaan used the example of CAF that doesn’t have term limits.

"Term limits start on the day which the resolution is taken. Gianni Infantino served a term then they took the resolution, the term limit and now he's serving the term. Now if you take the period prior to the decision, Gianni Infantino is already passed his first term,” Jordaan said.

“So, it depends on how you interpret it. At the moment, in CAF there is no term limit, in FIFA, when was it taken? In 2017, so 2021, 2025, 2029 is Giani Infantino's last term. However, if you take it from the time when he commended, it should have been his fourth term."

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On the day Jordaan (73) won an election for his third term in June 2022, he immediately declared that this would be his last term and would start working on a succession plan.

But the latest reports indicate that, that is no longer the case. SAFA does not have term limits just like CAF, and Jordaan says terms from when they are implemented and have no bearing on the previous terms served.

"It's just a legal point, you cannot make a law and make it retrospective, it applies from the day it was adopted. So, we must understand that. I think you will also complain if a law comes that you must pay 50% tax and in retrospective, it starts on the day when it was accepted," the SAFA president explained.

Jordaan has been a SAFA President since 2013, he was previously a Vice-President and CEO at SAFA and also the 2010 World Cup Local Organizing and Bid Committees.

He has also served in the SAFA Executive since the country’s readmission to international football in 1991.