Veteran Potch coach Jean Verster steps in to lead ASA

Jean Verster, one of Potchefstroom’s most respected athletics administrators and coaches, will lead Athletics South Africa as acting president, according to the Potchefstroom Herald. The appointment came during an ASA board meeting on October 30. Verster holds the position until the next ASA Council meeting on November 28, 2026.

For the athletes and coaches who train under his watch in the North West city, the change at the top carries a familiar face. Verster is the current ASA chairperson of track and field, the president of Athletics Central North West, and the manager of the NWU High-Performance Institute. Under his guidance, Potchefstroom has become a hub for middle- and long-distance athletes, drawing runners from both local and international circles.

The circumstances behind the appointment trace back to the board meeting itself. According to ASA, the move came after vice-president John Mathane, who had previously served as acting president, left the meeting. With the vice-president gone, Zakhele Dlamini, president of the Southern African Confederation of Athletics, who attended as a representative of World Athletics and the Confederation of African Athletics, directed the remaining board members to appoint an acting president from among themselves. They unanimously agreed on Verster, and he accepted the responsibility.

Verster brings a long history in the sport. He competed as a middle- and long-distance athlete in the 1980s and 1990s and is now a world-class coach who also understands the structures of athletics administration. That combination, spanning both the track and the boardroom, is what the federation is leaning on during this interim period.

Meanwhile, the board is looking beyond the leadership change. ASA said the interim arrangement forms part of attempts to address ongoing governance challenges and bring the federation in line with directives issued by World Athletics and the Confederation of African Athletics in correspondence dated October 15.

The board has also resolved to hold a strategic planning meeting from November 13 to November 15, with Dlamini’s assistance, to develop a roadmap for improving its governance and operational structures. For those involved in the sport at grassroots level, from club administrators to the athletes who compete under ASA’s banner, the outcome of that planning session may shape how the federation functions in the months ahead.

Verster’s temporary tenure runs until the council meets in late November 2026, giving the federation a defined window to work through its governance questions. Until then, the man who helped turn Potchefstroom into a training destination for distance runners will carry the day-to-day leadership of the sport nationally, backed unanimously by the board members who remained in the room on October 30.