NSA President Mami Diale unpacks first 100 days in office

Diale assumed the role on 25 October last year, having previously served as vice president under Cecilia Molokwane.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with SABC Sport, Diale highlights the successful hosting of the recently concluded Spar Challenge at Ellis Park as one of the standout moments of her early tenure.

“It’s been an impactful 100 days in office, and we managed to mark a few highlights.

“We hosted the biggest Spar Championships in the history of netball with 2143 participants registered, with very competitive and talented players. We won the Africa Champs for both Males and Females in Malawi and Vukile Zulu was selected as the Best Defender of the Africa Cup and Elmere Van Der Berg the Best Shooter and Jamie Golop was named the best Defender.

“We hosted and won the international Test Series against England as well.”

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Diale further unpacked the relationship amongst the new NSA executive members, stating that it is a supportive and united team.

“We are a solid team and we complement each other in terms of our strengths and weakness , we have each other's backs and are able to work as a unit,” added Diale.

Diale further praised the South African netball fans for backing the Spar Challenge with ticket sales.

“It was the most epic event ever in the history of netball. The support from Mzanzi was amazing and we are thankful for the two days of sold-out tickets, we also introduced the selling of VIP Tickets and 200 VIP tickets were sold out for Saturday and Sunday.

The performance of the players was on another level, they did not disappoint and we are proud of them and our coaches.”

Diale adds that the federation’s 2026 plans include hosting a Sponsorship Forum to deliberate on successes and challenges faced in netball.

“We have planned a Sponsorship Forum on 13 February, this is an event where we bring all our sponsors together in one room to deliberate on netball programs and see how we can uplift the standard of netball. We also have the coaches and Umpires Indaba on 28 February 2026, where all the coaches and umpires who are running the business of netball will be guided on how to follow processes.

“We then have the Telkom netball league starting in April in KZN, then Johannesburg in June and Tshwane will host the finals."