Tebogo Motlanthe - not Gronie Hluyo - is the new acting chief executive officer of the South African Football Association (Safa).
Early last month, Safa made the headlines after a report from the former chief executive, Gay Mokoena, was leaked to the media. In it he complained that president Danny Jordaan runs the association as his ‘personal fiefdom’.
In his response, Mokoena said Jordaan had tasked Hluyo as the current supervisor of the association while they search for a permanent replacement for Dennis Mumble who vacated the chief executive post in 2018.
Responding to the Mokoena report last week, Jordaan said the national executive committee (NEC) had not decided who the next chief executive should be. However, a statement released on the association's website yesterday afternoon declared that the “NEC has unanimously endorsed the appointment of advocate Tebogo Motlanthe as the new acting CEO of the organisation”.
Safa communications manager Dominic Chimhavi explained the change.
“It is a person that was appointed and identified by the national executive committee. He was already within the structures and he’s a sharp person with a legal mind. He’s been a football person through and through,”
Chimhavi said.
In his previous role with the association, Motlanthe acted as the legal officer. The 39-year-old apparently led the “Safa legal team that successfully defended the association against the Fli-Afrika complaint in which the travel agency was claiming millions of rands from the FA”.
Motlanthe will have his hands full following the release of the Mokoena report, and claims by the South African Football Clubs Association that clubs in the lower division were not paid their financial dues for the last three seasons.
Motlanthe is the third person - after Mokoena and Russell Paul - to hold the role of acting chief executive since Mumble left. However, Chimhavi said they are working around the clock to find a permanent candidate for the role.
“It’s also a process that has been put into motion by Safa. But the stumbling block has been the nationwide lockdown. It has really put some spanner in the works of the organisation, especially on the operational issues.”
Motlanthe is yet to agree on the duration and terms as the acting chief executive. Chimhavi however insisted that Motlanthe's role and duration at the helm will be cleared immediately after the lockdown.