Johannesburg- The South African Football Association (Safa) restructuring process continues unabated and well-placed insiders have revealed that the national association is on the verge of appointing a new head of communications and spokesperson.
Veteran sports journalist Mninawa Ntloko is widely believed to be the front-runner to take over the reins on November 1. The incumbent, Dominic Chimhavi, a former City Press sports editor, has been redeployed to the stakeholder relations position.
The post was previously held by veteran sports broadcaster Morio Sanyane. Chimhavi held the country’s football mother body’s communications post for 12 years. If appointed, Ntloko will bring a wealth of experience having worked as a journalist for over 20 years.
He has covered major sports tournaments in the world and travelled extensively covering Bafana and other codes.
He is a former Business Day sports editor and is currently the TimesLive digital sport editor. His major task will include enhancing the national association’s digital media platforms and gett ing them on par with international trends and standards.
Ntloko will also streamline, oversee and liaise with the media during Bafana Bafana and other national teams’ camps, something that was until recently handled by radio personality Romy Titus, as a consultant.
Ntloko said: “Nothing has been fi nalised . Yes, we did have talks. As far as I’m concerned, I have not joined Safa.” Asked to comment, Safa said that Ntloko was still working for Arena Holdings.
“Yes, there were talks with Ntloko but nothing has been fi nalised. We did advertise the post and it closed on Friday. We will be conducting interviews soon, we are just waiting for the COO [Lydia Monyepao] and HR to provide us with names,” said Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe when approached .
Recently, the football mother body appointed retired Banyana Banyana star Lydia Monyepao as the chief operating offi cer and Amanda Dlamini as senior manager for commercial and corporate marketing.
Monyepao has hit the ground running and was part of the Safa delegation that recently hosted Fifa general secretary Fatma Samoura during the CAF Women’s Champions League (Cosafa region, won by Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies) in Durban.
Dlamini’s duties include the management of Safa’s commercial partners/sponsors for all Safa events, projects and opportunities. It is also about the coordination and compilation of updates on events a nd marketing reports.
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