NHA appoints new Chairman with seemingly no experience in horse racing but serving on the NHA board. That's two appointments in racing with no experience in the actual sport. 4 Racing appointed Fundi Sithebe last year and now Mr Nulliah as Chair of the NHA. 

1. Newly Appointed Chairman and Deputy Chairman

The National Horseracing Authority is proud to announce the appointment of Mr Nithia Nalliah as its new Chairman and Professor Ian Sanne as its Deputy Chairman.

Mr Nalliah is an Independent Board Director appointed in terms of clause 15.1.2 of the Constitution. Mr Nalliah is a Chartered Accountant and also holds the degrees B.Compt (Unisa), B.Compt (Hons) and CTA (Unisa) as well as a post-graduate diploma in Tax from RAU. He was employed at Deloitte and Touche for some 16 years and ended up as a Senior Partner in charge of Financial Services Tax Group. Since then he has been an Executive Director of several companies and past member of several Regulatory Committees. He is also an active contributor and adviser on tax policy and law to South African Government Departments. Mr Nalliah has presented several papers in South Africa and Internationally.

Professor Sanne is a Member Board Director appointed in terms of clause 15.1.1 of the Constitution. Professor Sanne is a registered Colour Holder since 2010 and is the Co-Owner of Oldlands Stud. He holds multiple degrees and is a Professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. A founder of the Equine Health Fund (University of the Witwatersrand), Professor Sanne focused on resolving the African Horse Sickness protocols, equine export protocol which programme has subsequently been transferred to SAEHP. Professor Sanne is an advisor to the South African Export Horse Programme and was a representative to the International Sport Horse meeting in Hong Kong in 2018. He is an advisor and Board member of the Pretoria University Equine Research Centre. Professor Sanne was a Council Member of the Gauteng Horse Society from 2012 – 2018 when the provincial bodies were disbanded.

2. Nominations Committee – Appointment of new National Board Directors

In terms of Clause 15.4.6 of the Constitution of The National Horseracing Authority, Mrs Susan Rowett and Mr Ken Truter are the longest serving Directors at the close of the 140th Annual General Meeting held earlier today. Both Mrs Rowett and Mr Truter had advised that they do not wish to be continue serving on the National Board.

The Nominations Committee are in the process of obtaining suitable candidates to replace Mrs Rowett and Mr Truter in terms of the Constitution.

The NHA and its National Board hereby wishes to thank the outgoing Chairlady Mrs Susan Rowett for successfully leading the organisation with great dedication and passion through some challenging times over the past two years. Mrs Rowett’s expertise and sound knowledge of the regulation of horseracing will be sorely missed.

The NHA and its National Board also wishes to thank Mr Ken Truter, with his strong international ties, for securing the hosting of the 38th Asian Racing Conference in Cape Town in February 2020 and ensuring that it was a huge success and one of the best held thus far. Mr Truter also led the NHA successfully through some turbulent times over his three year tenure as Chairman. Mr Truter will be greatly missed as a National Board Director.

Vee Moodley

Chief Executive