My name is Bart Henderson and I am a forensic investigator, and an original member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (US) in South Africa. I was recently employed by a former Trustee of the now dissolved 2010 FIFA World Cup Legacy Trust (“Trust”), to investigate the South African Football Association (SAFA), and the Trust, which have been rocked by fraud and corruption scandals for almost a decade. These scandals include the payment of an alleged $10 million bribe by SAFA to secure the hosting rights for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

I have been a forensic investigator for 28 years, but I have never seen this many governance, risk, compliance and transactional red flags in a single organisation before! How SAFA has managed to function for this long without being placed under investigation is beyond me.

In a high-level report spanning 44 pages, I detail the severity of the governance issues in SAFA, and the extent of the financial mismanagement which runs into the hundreds of millions of rands, and impacts the development of the beautiful game of soccer, which is under siege, in South Africa.

SAFA has had 9 CEOs in 14 years with an average tenure of 1 year 8 months, and 11 Vice Presidents in 10 years. SAFA currently has 47 paid National Executive Committee (NEC) members, against a global average of 15 - which is tantamount to a company, with a staff complement of 60 employees, having 47 directors.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup Legacy Trust, which was set up with the intention of being a long-term self-sustaining source of funding for the development of soccer in South Africa, has been systematically plundered of over R600 million, starting in 2013 when Danny Jordaan was elected SAFA President. Arguably only two people have ever seen the financial records of SAFA, being Jordaan and the SAFA CFO, Gronie Hluyo. The Trust was irregularly dissolved by Jordaan before the Trustees ever had sight of its financial statements and records.

In July 2019, SAFA’s auditors, PwC, resigned abruptly citing reputational and liability risk misalignment with SAFA. In addition, Jordaan (who was previously accused of rape) and its CFO, are currently facing serious criminal charges of theft, fraud and corruption brought against them by a SAFA NEC member. Yet no one - not Parliament, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, SAFA’s NEC, nor FIFA - has called for the SAFA leadership to either voluntarily step down, or face suspension pending the outcome of all charges and investigations.

It is for that reason that I decided to stick my neck out by going public with the findings in my report. I am doing this because something must be done! So please help me by playing your part and making sure that this petition - which will be handed over to Parliament, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, SAFA’s NEC and FIFA - gains as many signatures as possible, and is shared far and wide.

It’s time to demand action from the South African Parliamentary Portfolio Committee,  the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, SAFA’s NEC and FIFA to rid South African soccer of this cancer. The following must be done with immediate effect:

• The President and the CFO of SAFA must be suspended pending the outcome of current criminal investigations; and
• SAFA and the 2010 FIFA World Cup Legacy Trust must undergo a full and comprehensive independent Forensic Investigation by a reputable (Top 4) audit firm for the periods 2013 to date.