Too good to fail: Patrice Motsepe to drive CAF to the promised land?

Pascal M. Camara

 The 9th richest man in Africa, Patrice Motsepe, is elected the 7th President of Confederation of African Football (Caf); the first South African; the first billionaire to lead African Football and the first Anglophone Caf President. He is just the Second from Southern Africa; former President of South African Premier Soccer League Mamelodi Sundowns and an in-law to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Motsepe is right, “let us focus on the positive aspects”. With the exception of Chad and Eritrea that were absent, all 52 delegates at the 43rd ordinary and elective general assembly waved up their “Yes/Oui” green cards for him without reservations. In return, he promised to have found the right button to drive African football to another level. He cited that there are many emotions attached to African football in and outside the continent and saw “a potential” to be exploited in it. Moving forward, he wishes to “meet at least twice a year” with all the presidents of federations and visit all countries to see their problems, first hand in the next 9 to 12 months. Welcome home. Gambians are possibly used to the constitutionally sanctioned “meet the people or farmers tour” which the Head of State embarks on once every year and most of the promises remain unfulfilled while the ride continues. He promised to build a standard stadium in every member country as part of his “ten-point business plan” for African football. He needs Caf and all its member federations to be self-sustainable and he promised to open doors to the private sector in every country. He also wants to meet the politicians as well to convince them. He possibly knows more. These mostly “brothers” never say NO, but hardly fulfil their promises and least diplomatically in some cases. He may need to consult the archives of the dissolved Supreme Council for Sport in Africa, to confirm this.

And this FIFA hegemony?

Through the influence of Fifa, the Caf presidency was settled down as desired. Fifa President, Giani Infantino, toured the continent, meeting various Head of States and football federation presidents while preaching the need for African unity. Fifa officials reportedly had a meeting in morocco with all four aspiring candidates, it is called the Pact of Morocco. A week to the elections, eventual first and second vice presidents, Augustin Senghore of Senegal and Ahmed Yahya of Mauritania would announce the withdrawal of their candidature. Senghore confirmed Fifa´s influence on the decisions. "We have decided to accept the proposal submitted to us by Fifa, Morocco and Egypt in the superior interest of the unity of African football” he stated. Jacque Anouma of Ivory Coast would also step back few days to the elections and is now the Adviser to the President. Many other aspiring candidates to other positions including the Gambia´s Lamin Kabba Bajo (for Fifa Council) withdrew their candidature before or during the congress “in the interest of the unity of the CAF family”. They are all “brothers” according to Motsepe. One positive take-home in this Fifa agenda is being able to shove-in the head of Comoros' Kanizat Ibrahim as the 5th Vice President into the all-men´s club. She is the first ever female in the role. A day after the general assembly, Fifa announced that Congolese-Swiss Veron Mosengo-Omba, a friend of Infantino and former employee of Fifa as the Officer responsible for Member Associations, has been appointed as the Secretary General of Caf. Infantino would not shy away from his actions but justified them: "It is no secret that Caf has been facing some difficult times. So it is an opportunity to look forward to speak with everyone, to try to help African football in whichever way we can," he said in an interview in March. The Interim President Constant Selemani Omari during his speech at the assembly brushed off all claims of external interference, citing that Caf had the idea of uniting the candidates a year ago.

Brother Morocco aiming higher

Morocco has been influential on and off the pitch on Caf sanctioned activities this year. On the pitch, Morocco won the CHAN for the second consecutive time; bowed out in the quarterfinals of the U-20 championship on penalties to Tunisia and called off the U-17 championship they were to host just five days to the event. Off the pitch, Morocco has equally been present. The Pact of Morocco which saw the meeting of the four aspiring candidates to the presidency with Fifa officials and according to reports, with the eventual Secretary General. Other than hosting the congress, Morocco sneaked its head through as Fouzi Lekjaa was elected as one of two Arabic-speaking, Portuguese-speaking and Spanish-speaking representative to the Fifa Executive Council. Since re-joining the African Union in 2017 after 33 years in the continental wilderness, the geopolitical influence in sport is evident. In 2019, it hosted the 12th edition of African Games. Politics cannot just be absolved in this fiasco. Three important decisions were taken in the General assembly: increase the number of vice presidents from three to five; precision within the limits of the exercise of eligibility control by the Governance Committee of Caf and most importantly, change in the conditions for admission to membership of the organization. Morocco has been in a diplomatic battle with the disputed region of Western Sahara and have blocked its intentions to legitimize its status by joining international organizations. Zanzibar was stripped off its Caf membership in 2017 as former Caf president Ahmad Ahmad claimed that the decision was taken “without properly looking into the Status”. Reunion Island, who is only admitted as an associate member, will now have to look elsewhere to earn membership status into a confederation.

For Infantino and Fifa, the African house is possibly now in order, Africa is united. Attention could be shifted to other dissenting voices in other regions and federations.  Going by events following the elections, Patrice Motsepe has it all on his table: backing of Fifa; support within Africa; concentration on the positives and rich enough to be incorruptible with Caf chicken change. There is the need to stabilise the financial situation of Caf by cutting down on meetings and commissions paid to members of committees. With a deficit of $10 million lingering on the organization´s neck as of June 2020, the continuous financial dependence on Fifa may not save Motsepe and team. If the business community could be convinced with data on the true potentials in African football, that could yield some results. Until then, Motsepe has it all right but if he doesn’t deliver, runs the risk of rendering any rich person´s ambitions for such positions and on similar rhetoric, baseless. Politics and sports cannot be separated but the influence of political opportunists will also greatly determine where he leaves African football at the end.