After two years of running South Africa's professional football without a permanent chief executive, the Premier Soccer League (PSL) is expected to announce its new boss after their annual general meeting on November 15, acting chief executive Mato Madlala said this week.
The PSL has battled to fill the position which was left vacant when Brand de Villiers resigned to join MultiChoice.
"People will have to wait for the PSL chairman [Irvin Khoza] to announce the organisation's new chief executive officer, possibly during or after our annual general meeting.
BOARD OF GOVERNORS DECISION
"For now we can't disclose who's likely to be appointed," said Madlala, adding that she was not in the running as she plans to return full-time to handling the affairs of her club, Lamontville Golden Arrows.
To date, the PSL has managed to keep the name of the headhunted chief executive under wraps, with little speculation on the names of the candidates.
Madlala has lasted longer in the acting position than two of her three permanent predecessors.
De Villiers was in charge for 29 months, from June 2013 to November 2015.
Madlala's stay has not been without question marks from stakeholders, with concerns raised about her staying more than six months in an acting capacity.
By law, employees are not supposed to occupy acting positions for longer than six months.
"It was a BoG's [board of governors] decision. And it always comes back to the BoG. It was not the chairman's and exco's [executive committee] decision only, it was the BoG," Madlala said in response to that issue when it was raised last month.
Also on the agenda at the annual general meeting will be the matter relating to the 2019 to 2024 TV rights which were put out for tender in the past week.
Those bidding for the rights have until 5pm on Friday to submit their applications for the rights to cover TV, IPTV, internet and mobile transmissions of all Premier Soccer League competitions.
SuperSport International once again appears to be in pole position to land the lucrative rights with no rivals in sight to match their financial muscle.
Sandile Luthuli, communications specialist at SuperSport International, said: "We've taken note of the advertisement published by the PSL and [we] are assessing it."
Telkom declined to divulge whether they would bid for the football broadcast rights when contacted for comment.
But an insider informed the Sunday Times that the company is considering sports content as a future strategy. "Commenting will give away our plans," said the insider.
The SA Broadcasting Corporation, which once had the monopoly of the rights before SuperSport International came to the fore 10 years ago, is in such dire financial straits.
It is a given they will once again have to resort to sub-licensing to continue beaming local professional football matches to the millions of viewers who can't afford pay-per-view channels.
The national broadcaster was this week confronted with a strike by its workforce, with some of the unions demanding up to 15% wage increases.
THE HIGHEST BIDDER
The broadcaster's spokesman Kaizer Kganyago admitted this week that they were unlikely to bid for the football rights.
Kganyago, who cited "the exorbitant" price tag as something that put them on the back foot, added that they haven't yet taken a decision on whether to bid or not.
When SuperSport International first won the rights to broadcast PSL matches, they forked out R1.6-billion while the second instalment, which expires at the end of 2017/18 season, is worth R2.2-billion.
The application for the next five-year rights closes on Friday and Madlala said they will go for the highest bidder.
