15 January 2010
	PROFILE Into the Safa hot seat By Thebe Mabanga

Leslie Sedibe, the suave lawyer who has just taken over the reins as CEO of the SA Football Association (Safa), has managed to use his legal training to access some of the most interesting opportunities on offer. He has overseen the careers of some of SA's biggest music stars, including the late Brenda Fassie, as a lawyer for EMI records; he has run the country's flagship music awards; served on the interim SABC board, which he says was "fun"; helped the country prepare for the upcoming Fifa World Cup; and now runs the football association. Sedibe is unfazed by concerns that he does not have a football background or that he is stepping into the vipers' nest that is SA football. "Similar issues were raised when I joined EMI," he says of his breakthrough move in 1998, which came after three years of serving articles with Kallmeyer & Strime attorneys. It was during his eight-year tenure that he became chairman of the Recording Industry of SA and later the SA Music Awards, where questions about his lack of a marketing background were raised. But he stabilised the awards and cemented their relationship with the sponsor, MTN. However, Safa has demonstrated how it treats effective executives through its short-lived commercial arm. It brought in highly regarded former editor and Coca-Cola executive S'bu Mngadi, then axed him when it felt threatened by his success. But Sedibe seems relaxed about his one-year Safa contract, noting that an option to renew is available. Judging from the plans he has outlined, he might just make himself difficult to dispense with - though he acknowledges that Danny Jordaan, the 2010 soccer World Cup CEO, way wish to return to his old job after the tournament. Speaking to the FM ahead of the expiry of his term on the SABC interim board, Sedibe said the furore over its appointment of Solly Mokoetle as CEO has no basis. "We applied our minds, it was a meticulous and thorough process." Before taking up his current post, he was the legal affairs manager at the 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC), where he served on the Fifa ticketing committee, among other roles. Sedibe was born in Alexandra and grew up in Kgabalatsane, outside Pretoria, where he completed his schooling. He then studied law at Wits, starting with a BA and LLB in the 1990s and a master's in tax in 2004, which will be handy when he oversees the LOC's winding up after the World Cup. He says he is motivated by a "desire to see the administration of justice and to make a difference". He is a married to Generations actress Sonia Sedibe.