Johannesburg – The South African Football Association (SAFA) says the police raid on its headquarters in Nasrec was “unfortunate and a shame to our law enforcement agencies”.
During the search on Friday executed by the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit, a laptop, external hard drives, a USB, and documents were seized.
South African Police Services spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said the raid was prompted by allegations of fraud and theft amounting to R1.3 million.
Reacting to the raid, SAFA said: “The search and seizure conducted by the Hawks at the SAFA headquarters in Nasrec, in the south of Johannesburg, on Friday, 8 March 2024, was unfortunate and a shame to our law enforcement agencies”.
SAFA added: “The Hawks are claiming allegations of fraud and theft amounting to R1,3 million.
“SAFA is well aware of the amount and is satisfied that it was for services rendered, for which contracts can be provided.
“We want to set it out from the onset that we believe the search was unlawful, malicious, and not conducted in terms of the directives of a warrant given to us.
“We were not furnished with all the documents prescribed by law. The documents that were furnished by the Hawks during the shameful raid were incomplete and unlawful.
“We contend that it was done deliberately and intentionally in order to action this malicious action.”
SAFA said it has instructed its attorneys to bring an urgent application to review and set aside this search and seizure.
“We have further instructed our attorneys to bring a formal complaint to the oversight arbitrator of the Hawks regarding the action of all involved members.”
Giving details of the fraud allegations on Friday, Colonel Mogale said: “The allegations are that between 2014 and 2018, the president of SAFA used the organisation’s resources for his personal gain including hiring a private security company for his personal protection, a public relations company without authorisation from the SAFA Board.
“The president is also reported to have violated SAFA statutes thus prejudicing SAFA an actual loss of R1.3 million.”
However, the football association also said it will institute Civil Action for defamation of character against those involved in the naming of the SAFA President’s name in an ongoing investigation.
“We contend that this is unethical and unlawful as the police never mentioned anyone’s name in matters that are under investigation,” SAFA said.
“We believe, unfortunately, that these members of the police have been compromised and are being used in the callous abuse of state resources. Let us reiterate, there is no money missing from SAFA.”
