SA Hockey open up on CEO position

The South African Hockey Association (SAHA) is searching for a new CEO to fill the position left vacant by Marrissa Langeni back in May.

After serving SAHA for almost 13 years, Langeni stepped down to join University Sport South Africa and was subsequently replaced by Shaune Baaitjies on an interim basis.

While praising the acting CEO for steadying the ship, SAHA vice-president Lwandile Simelane has told SABC Sport the federation will appoint a permanent CEO before the end of the year.

"We currently have an interim CEO in place, just to steady the ship, and then we'll begin to advertise for the position of a permanent replacement," Simelane said.

"The acting CEO for SA Hockey is a hockiest by trade, who knows the sport like the back of her hand and she has been a great asset in ensuring that we stabilise the organisation whilst looking for a permanent replacement."

Simelane noted with excitement how the sport is growing in leaps and bounds, and says the aim is always to qualify for the Olympic Games, with the next taking place in Paris in 2024, while remaining the best in Africa is another expectation for SAHA.

"I think Hockey is without a doubt an Olympic code [for South Africa], and I think there were challenges around selection, which I won't address now, but I think we have a great responsibility to ensure that SA Hockey retains its place at the top of Africa," she added.

"It's becoming a tougher and tougher place to maintain nowadays with the unbelievable developmental work that is happening around hockey on the continent.

"I think for us it's just a simple matter of ensuring that we earn our spot continuously. It's a privilege to be at the Olympics at every opportunity but we also understand that you have to qualify for the Olympics in every sport in the world.

"So, we're always looking to ensure that we qualify and we retain our prominence - since the fall of apartheid and the reintroduction of South African sport onto the world stage, I think Hockey has only missed the Olympics twice for the men and once for the women, so I think, for us, it's definitely a critical thing for us to maintain our rank."

By Charles Baloyi