'Hands off': Superfan Mama Joy defends Safa boss Danny Jordaan amid fraud charges

Superfan and secretary general of the South African National Association of Supporters Union (SANASU), Mama Joy Chauke, has come out to defend fraud-accused SA Football Association (Safa) President Danny Jordaan amid his ongoing legal battles.

Jordaan, along with Safa CFO Gronie Hluyo and businessman Trevor Neethling, were arrested last month on charges of fraud amounting to R1.3 million. Jordaan is currently out on R20,000 bail.

He is accused of using 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".

He appeared at the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Palm Ridge on Tuesday with his co-accused, where they sought to have the cases against them struck off the roll. However, their attempt was unsuccessful.

The outspoken Mama Joy took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express her unwavering support for the embattled Jordaan, asserting his innocence and confidence that he would be vindicated in court.

"Supporting my President at Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court. I still say hands off my President Danny Jordaan. I'm asking the court to drop the charges, have patience and wait for the court to prove that he is guilty, ror now, Hands off," Mama Joy posted on X.

Amid Jordaan's legal challenges, it has recently come to light that Safa is struggling financially and has not paid some of the Bafana Bafana players their match bonuses.

“I do confirm that there are some Bafana Bafana payments that are outstanding but we have paid their daily allowance and that is covered, all of them," Safa CEO Lydia Monyepao told Sunday World.

"I think maybe it is probably the last camp we did not pay them, the local camp, not the away camp. We have paid the bonuses but not all of them, we are still owing them some bonuses.”

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