SAGA Town Hall: a new committee
SAGA held a Town Hall online on Sunday 2 August 2026, convened by Ben Bredenkamp, to elect a new committee. The meeting was recorded and the recording circulated to the membership.
The new committee
| Role | Appointee |
|---|---|
| Chairperson | Aki Zhou |
| Treasurer | Ben Bredenkamp |
| Secretary | Pico Geyer |
| Tournament Director | Dominique de Rouvroy |
Ben Bredenkamp is the only member of the previous committee to carry over, and provides the continuity between the outgoing and incoming committees.
Our thanks to the outgoing committee for their service, and in particular to Gordon Wells, who asked that the committee be rotated and a new chairperson appointed.
The constitution
SAGA has an existing constitution, and the meeting agreed the sensible course is to operate under it rather than draft new rules from scratch. It has now been located and published on the SAGA page for any member to read.
Should the constitution need revision in future, the meeting favoured working through a publicly commentable document over several months, so that proposals and counter-proposals can accumulate for the committee to consider — rather than attempting a detailed constitutional debate inside a single meeting.
Priorities for the year ahead
Growing the game was accepted as the central priority. The proposals discussed — none of them yet decided — included:
- More frequent, smaller tournaments in preference to reviving the SA Candidates cycle, on the reasoning that growing the game matters more at present. A Gauteng handicap Open and an online tournament following the Winter League were both raised.
- A SA Go Congress — a multi-day residential event combining a beginners’ tournament, a training camp and public exposure at a holiday venue.
- A schools programme, with Go established as a regular extramural activity and an end-of-year tournament feeding into a national schools league.
- Outreach at cultural festivals, gaming conventions and similar public events, which has been working well and will continue.
- Equipment, including sourcing good sets to sell near cost at public events, locally made boards, and equipment suitable for blind and partially sighted players.
These now pass to the new committee to work through and bring back to the membership.
How SAGA will work
The committee will meet quarterly, with the next meeting in early November. A SAGA council channel is being set up within the existing WhatsApp community as the place to raise ideas and proposals.
Two things the committee has been asked to sort out: making the route for a prospective member to join clear and reliable, and deciding what contact information SAGA publishes.
If you would like to get involved — with a tournament, the schools programme, outreach, or anything else above — contact the SAGA secretary.