Reliable ink-stained sources say that the gentleman running soccer is one Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana. He is one of two vice-presidents of the SA Football Association, but is, one hears, the boss in all but name.
He is also an ANC Member of Parliament, which begs the question of how much influence the ruling party exerts over soccer business in this country.
Why we call him Chief is because that is what he is. He is the chief of the Amabhala clan of the Xhosa tribe. He has been involved in football for quite some time, a bit of a spoke in the wheel, one hears, of some of the big city slickers who like to have things their way.
He is a sitting ANC member of the National Assembly, where he has served on various portfolio committees, and is the chairman of the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders. You may have spotted him at the opening of parliament when he colourfully advances the Pondo culture by wearing traditional attire.
Also, during a 2010 presentation in Ghana last year, the good man announced confidently that South Africa would win the World Cup next year. I'm sure he was just teasing.
Be that as it may, you may wonder how Fifa feel about a politician sitting in the nominal, joint No.2 position in SA soccer. The world body is quite outspoken about political interference in its affiliates. I don't know if a politician's mere presence in soccer's boardroom constitutes automatic interference, but many would say it does.
You might also wonder how easy it is to combine being a soccer boss with a member of parliament. This is a tough question for a mere observer of human nature to answer because one does not always know what soccer bosses and MPs do with their time. It just strikes one, though, that both may constitute fulltime jobs.
One positive thing about having the soccer boss sitting in parliament is that he can convey information quickly one way or the other without too much fuss - a sort of double agent, in a funny sort of way.
This week, for example, the good chief was a member of a three-man Safa delegation that was called to appear before the parliamentary portfolio committee on sport to explain what the hell was going on.
He was accompanied by Safa's new president Kirsten "I'm no puppet" Nematandani and the other vice-president Mandla "Shoes" Mazibuko.
The committee chair Butana Komphela MP (ANC) was in an unusually relaxed mood afterwards, saying how happy he was with the "breath of fresh air that the new leadership has brought" into the national football body.
Say no more.