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A visibly incensed Premier Soccer League chair, Irvin Khoza, unequivocally dismissed defamation charges laid against him by the South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan.
Khoza, who on Thursday opened up for the first time since the accusations were made by Jordaan over the weekend, vehemently denied knowing or having had any contact with Jordaan’s rape accuser.
“I do not know Jennifer Ferguson, I have never met her, spoken to her, or have had any form of contact with her. I have never had contact with anyone associated with Ferguson, nor sent anyone to talk with Ferguson,” said the Iron Duke at a media briefing held at the PSL’s headquarters in Parktown on Thursday.
The power struggle within South African football took a peculiar twist over the weekend as Jordaan opened a case of defamation against Khoza, who is also the Orlando Pirates club chairperson.
Khoza is also vice president of Safa, second-in-command to Jordaan.
A set of questionable emails and invoices between Khoza and a travel agent are believed to be at the heart of the criminal charges laid against Khoza and Ferguson by Jordaan.
Jordaan accused Khoza of influencing the opening of a rape case against him last month by singer and former ANC MP Jennifer Ferguson, who accused Jordaan of raping her in a Port Elizabeth hotel 25 years ago.
READ: Rape case opened against Danny Jordaan
Ferguson, who lives in Sweden, admitted that her flight back to South Africa was funded by an anonymous person causing Jordaan to accuse Khoza as being the financier of the flights as well as paying for Ferguson’s accommodation through a third party.
'Unfounded' accusations
The PSL chairperson said this was not the first time Jordaan had made “unfounded” accusations against him.
“In 2004 following a shooting incident, Jordaan accused me of trying to kill him. He has since also accused me of plotting a coup against him. At the time it was around the hosting of the world cup; I did not want to distract attention from such a significant national event, hence I did not openly engage the accusation but this time the gloves are off, and I will face this head on,” said Khoza.
Surprisingly Khoza, who called for the press briefing, went on to say that he was not fully aware of the charges against him and explained that he “heard bits and pieces from media reports and would like to be informed of all the accusations before I can engage in responding to them in detail”.
Khoza, however, ran through his version of events leading up to the accusation.
“On Friday April 27, there was a Safa executive committee meeting where both Jordaan and myself were in attendance. At this meeting Jordaan mentioned how he was mounting a massive fight and insinuated my involvement in something he was going to expose and fight. When I inquired on what it was he said just wait for Saturday and Sunday and you will see,” said Khoza.
In reference to the accusations, the Iron Duke said he was shocked to wake up on Sunday to “the most bizarre and absurd conspiracy theories concerning my name”.
The tumultuous relationship between the two heavyweights in South African football dates as far back as 2013 when Khoza and Jordaan went head-to-head for the Safa presidency.
Jordaan beat Khoza on a technicality when he disclosed a resolution in the Safa constitution which prevented club owners from becoming president of the national body, leaving Khoza’s associate Mandla “Shoes” Mazibuko as a contender.
Jordaan won that election and has been Safa president ever since.
Khoza said he hoped for a speedy resolution to the matter and that it will not affect South African football as he was willing to continue attending Safa executive meetings in which Jordaan would be present.
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