MAMI DIALE WINS NETBALL SA PRESICENT VOTE

Acting president Mami Diale was elected Netball South Africa (NSA) president on Saturday afternoon, officially marking the end of the reign of controversial Cecilia Molokwane.

Nothing came of legal threats by Molokwane, who is to face a disciplinary inquiry in January after being suspended by World Netball (WN) amid allegations of intimidation and “excessive use” of NSA resources, apparently totalling around R19m.

She had wanted to be allowed to take part in the election, but that would have jeopardised NSA’s standing with WN.

Molokwane was nowhere to be seen as a six-strong executive was elected, with Diale and Claudine Classen being returned.

Khosi Dlamini (vice-president), Lana Krige (Dumisane Chauke and Magriet Bester) were voted in.

Diale, who received a letter from WN recently confirming she was not a whistleblower in the case against Molokwane, said she wanted to take netball “to the highest level”.

“We want to restore it, we want to rebuilt netball. We want to see ourselves being [up there] with the likes of England, the likes of Australia and the likes of New Zealand,” said Diale, who is keen to create a super league with the national under-19, under-21 and senior players.

NSA is one of the richer Cinderella sports, boasting a surplus of R8.2m for the year ending March 31, compared to a R14.6m deficit for the previous period. Accumulated funds stood at R13.6m.

Turnover was R106m, with R72.8m coming from sponsorships and R21m from Lotto. Expenses totalled R98.4m, with R8.9m going to salaries, player fees and employee costs.

The next biggest items were R3.5m on sponsorship commissions, R2.47m on travel, accommodation and meeting costs for executive members and then R2.2m on personnel claims, up from R723,822 from 2023/24.

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