Bugging, spy scandal rocks Safa leadership
2010-07-25 13:00
World Cup kingpin Danny Jordaan and three other soccer bosses have
been having their movements tracked over the last few months without their
knowledge.
Jordaan, who is the Local Organising Committee’s CEO; former SA
Football Association (Safa) president Molefi Oliphant; vice-president Mandla
Mazibuko; and CEO Leslie Sedibe discovered this month that monitoring devices
had been secretly fitted to their cars.
No device was apparently fitted to the car of Safa vice-president
Irvin Khoza, but he could not be reached on his phone to confirm this.
His spokesperson, Dominic Ntsele, said he would try to get comment
from Khoza, but nothing had been heard at the time of going to press.
Incumbent Safa president Kirsten Nematandani and vice-president
Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana had been asked to bring their cars in on the same day
that Mazibuko made the discovery and are said to have refused.
Sedibe has commissioned an investigation to be conducted by an
independent security expert.
The tracking debacle comes as Safa is vexed by reports of an
all-out war between Khoza’s supporters and those backing Nematandani.
This has led the organisation to initiate a commission of inquiry.
Oliphant revealed to
City Press that his phone had been bugged while he was still the Safa president.
“I phoned the person who had bugged my phone and told him to stop what he was
doing,” Oliphant said yesterday.
The luxury cars are part of the sponsorship from Mercedes-Benz and
are driven by members of the Safa presidency and the two CEOs.
Mazibuko, who blew the whistle on the scheme, described the
development as a “gross violation of our privacy”.
The devices were fitted by an outside company at different times.
The process is said to have been overseen by staff members from Safa’s fleet
management department.
Jordaan’s car is said to have been fitted with the device around
November, Oliphant’s around March while Mazibuko’s was fitted two weeks
ago.
When Mazibuko found out he had it removed the following day.
“I am furious and disappointed,” fumed Oliphant. “When I heard
about this from Danny (Jordaan), I called Dudley (Mpulampula, the head of fleet
management at Safa).
He told me that the instruction had come from Grony (Hluyo,
the chief financial officer).
“Grony told me that this was for insurance purposes and I took his
word but added that it was inappropriate that I did not know about this, did not
have the company’s details nor an emergency number to call in case of something
happening,” said Oliphant.
He also revealed that a Safa staff member from the fleet management
department had previously phoned his driver and gloated: “I can see where you
guys are.”
Jordaan said: “The moment I discovered that there was such a device
in my car, I asked my driver to take it in and have it removed. I took it to the
same company that had installed it and they removed it.
“At the moment I can’t comment further as I am waiting for a report
that will inform us what exactly the device was for.”
Mazibuko said: “While I am not an alarmist, I am disappointed that
such an act of gross violation of our privacy was committed.”
Mazibuko said he would wait until a report was presented as Sedibe
had been asked to investigate the matter and “if there were malicious
intentions, appropriate action will be taken”.
- City Press