Former Chief Executive Officer of the South African Football Association (SAFA) Advocate Tebogo Motlanthe looks set to make the switch to the Premier Soccer League.
His shock resignation which was tendered over the weekend has been accepted by SAFA and while there were serious allegations over his reasoning, Dr. Danny Jordaan, together with Motlanthe and his successor Lydia Monyepao were present this morning at SAFA House to dismiss the leaked resignation letter that’s surfaced within the media.
Motlanthe distanced himself from the leaked email which he stated had no signature attached to it before leaving the press conference without taking any further questions. And it’s believed he’s in talks with the PSL over the CEO role that has been held in an acting role by Golden Arrows Chairlady Mato Madlala over the past eight years.
When asked about the turnover of appointments of the role under his leadership, Jordaan stated that they won’t stand in the way if other opportunities arrive for the administrators.
“Denis Mumble worked for SAFA for 13 years, it’s not a short time, his contract ran out in 2018, at that stage he reached retirement age and NEC took a decision that he must accept the retirement age must kick in,” Jordaan said at SAFA house on Monday morning.
“Then we had Paul, he was COO, becoming the CEO, he then received an offer from the Qatar organising committee, he explained the details and the NEC unanimously agreed that Russel Paul must go and accept that offer and we must not hold him back, it’s a huge experience for him, other than remunerated in dollars, we had a farewell and wished him well, no issues, it’s normal.
“We then had no CEO, the NEC decided that Gay Mokoena must act for three months, in that period we must advertise the post before appointing a new CEO, after his three months, he was an executive member of SAFA and from a governance standpoint, we’re not happy appointing an executive member as the CEO.
“We accelerated the process with an independent panel, then Tebogo was appointed for five years, but when people receive other offers, we won’t stand in their way, as Russel did, so we wish him well, you saw him, he said he’s continuing to work with SAFA, there are no issues between him and SAFA.
“If opportunities come along? What can we do, we must be happy that SAFA is producing the kind of administrators that other institutions want, you will see where he emerges and where he will work from now on and we wish him well.”
Jordaan stopped short of confirming the move to the PSL but stated it’s for the media to speculate on his next move after parting ways with the association.
“I cannot speak on his behalf, we must all wait and see… I can’t… you have the pen so can speculate, it’s’ the good position of the media,” Jordaan said when asked if his resignation was accepted to allow him to join the PSL.
“You can speculate and write and so on, I don’t have those platforms, but let us wait and see.”
