Kirsten Nematandani is ready to serve the nation

Congratulatory messages from around the world are still pouring in for the newly elected president of the South African Football Association, Mr Mbulaheni Kirsten Nematandani.

Nematandani, the director of sports at the University of Venda, was elected the president of the country's football controlling body during the association's annual general meeting in Johannesburg last Saturday. He was elected unopposed, after two other presidential candidates, Dr Irvin Khoza and Dr Danny Jordaan, withdrew from the race during the elections.

Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana and Mandla Mazibuko were elected the association's vice-presidents. When addressing the people after the elections, the outgoing president, Dr Molefi Olifant, indicated that he was delighted by the fact that the people have elected a knowledgeable person to the top job.

Born on 27 May 1958, Nematandani has served on countless football structures, both locally and nationally. His road to fame started when he became the coach of Chibuku Young Stars FC between 1986 and 1988. He became the president of the Venda Football Association in 1988.

He was elected the president of the SAFA Vhembe Regional Association in 2006, a position he held until he became the president of SAFA last Saturday. He was SAFA's chairperson for the competition's committee between 2001 and 2005.

He became the chairperson for the SAFA refereeing committee from 2006 to date. In an interview with him, Nematandani revealed that some of his short- term goals in-cluded meeting all the stakeholders worldwide in the distant future.

He reiterated the fact that he would do his utmost to ensure that the national team, Bafana Bafana, becomes the pride of the nation by reclaiming their number one spot in Africa. He further indicated that they would also ensure that more resources were channeled towards football development.

When asked how he saw the future of the national team coach, Mr Joel Santana, Nematandani said that it was too early to talk about the dismissal of the Bafana Bafana coach, saying he would give the technical team the support which they deserved, instead of jumping to the conclusion of parting ways with him. Bafana Bafana played 26 matches under the guidance of Mr Santana, winning 10, losing 12 and drawing 4.