/ 26 March 2011

Safa to start search for CEO from scratch

The SA Football Association (Safa) will start looking for a candidate to fill its vacant slot for a chief executive after the three people short-listed were deemed “not suitable” by its national executive committee (NEC) on Friday.

“The NEC have just given their recommendations, and they believe that from those that we interviewed, none are suitable for such a position,” said Safa president Kirsten Nematendani.

The people short-listed were former Premier Soccer League general manager Andrew Dipela, former Safa head of referees Russell Paul and Safa eThewkini executive member Nathi Ngcobo.

“They [the NEC] believe that they were good candidates, just not ones suitable for the position of being chief executive,” said Nematendani.

“Their other recommendation is that we should go out to the market with the help of an [recruiting] agency to help us, we want to find a replacement as soon as possible.”

The post was advertised earlier this year and drew more than 100 applications. It was to have been filled from April.

Pinky Lehoko would continue as acting chief executive until a chief executive was found.

Lehoko took up the position when Leslie Sedibe vacated the post last month after a year in charge. She has worked in various capacities in her 18 years with the association.

Safa previously said it wanted individuals with good marketing and financial backgrounds. – Sapa