Safa to vote for woman deputy pres on Sunday
Ria, Natasha favoured for position
The SA Football Association (Safa) council will meet on Sunday in Johannesburg to confirm three of their four vice-presidents.
This was confirmed by Safa president Danny Jordaan, who yesterday had a formal engagement with the media over breafast since his re-election last weekend.
PSL chairman Irvin Khoza is already guaranteed one of the vice-president seats by virtue of being the chairman of the Premier Soccer League.
The council, previously known as the national executive committee, will have to vote in the other three. This will take place at Safa House.
“The first thing we have to do is to appoint our vice-presidents. Now, the constitution says that at least one vice-president must be a woman,” Jordaan said.
Ria Ledwaba, with 220 votes, led the national council list followed by Natasha Tsichlas (198) and Emma Hendricks (196), which may pave the way for a couple of women to become vice-presidents.
“What is clear from this voting process is that the women got very, very high votes. Emma Hendricks, of course, became the first president of a region. She’s the president of Siyanda in Upington [Northern Cape].
“It’s just incredible that a woman from a rural area can become a president of a region and then get elected to the [council] of Safa by a very huge number of votes.”
Jordaan added that Safa, in consultation with the government, aims to bid for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
“By 2023, it would have been a few years [since the start of the national league] and therefore, our players would be at a level where they can compete with the best in the world.
“Therefore, this women’s World Cup must be based on a very strong domestic professional league for women,” he added.
According to Jordaan, the 16-team women’s national league is set to launch in the middle of next year and a woman vice-president will be tasked with running it.