The South African Football Association Chief Executive Officer’s race is hotting up. The original five candidates have now been whittled down to three. SAFA will finalise the appointment of a permanent Chief Executive Officer before the end of next month.
The final shortlist was concluded at the last meeting of the executive committee and the current acting CEO Tebogo Motlanthe is the front runner for the position.
Since the departure of Dennis Mumble as the CEO in 2018, SAFA has struggled to have a stable leader.
Three CEO’s have worked for SAFA in an acting capacity.
Russell Paul, SAFA National Executive Committee member Gay Mokoena, and current acting CEO Tebogo Motlanthe have all occupied the hot seat in an acting capacity.
SAFA to appoint a full time CEO by the end of January:
Jordaan says the process of appointing a new CEO is under way. “As you know, we started the process for the appointment of a CEO on a permanent basis. The acting CEO now is the CEO until the end of December. If need be in January next year. We had an interview panel and they submitted three names to the National Executive. Those three names are of course the acting Chief Executive, Happy Ntshingila and Lydia Monyapao.”
Motlanthe replaced Gay Mokoena as an acting chief executive in May this year and has done a sterling job. If appointed, the 39-year–old, Motlanthe will become the youngest ever chief executive for SAFA.
Three out of the five candidates shortlisted have made the final cut to occupy the position.
“What must now happen is that we must meet with them (and ask) what is their salary expectations; how long are they available; what are their other commitments because the two other candidates are employed elsewhere or are engaged elsewhere. So, these are the things that we will do. We’ll go back to the NEC to present the final candidate to say this is the candidate that we are proposing and if the NEC approves and that will be the end of the process,” Jordaan explains.
After recording a deficit of over R70 million last year, SAFA’s finances look promising. This year the football association has reported a surplus of R53 million.
