The Sunday Mail
Sports Reporter
COSAFA president Philip Chiyangwa is on the verge of writing his own piece of history by playing a leading role in helping to deliver two successive Confederation of African Football presidents amid revelations that his candidate and South African mining magnate, Patrice Motsepe, is on the cusp of being the continental body’s new boss.
Chiyangwa, who in 2016 successfully campaigned for outgoing CAF president Ahmad Ahmad in a landmark election that ended the 28-year-old reign of strongman Issa Hayatou, has been rallying the Southern African bloc and the rest of the African countries in a whirlwind campaign to garner support for the Mamelodi Sundowns owner.
Ahmad’s tumultuous and largely unsuccessful tenure ended with the Malagasy being banned by FIFA after the world body’s Ethics committee found him guilty of breaching four separate articles of the organisation’s ethics code, including abuse of office, misappropriation of funds and rules concerning the offering, and acceptance of gifts. That ban led to Ahmad’s disqualification while Motsepe stepped up to the plate, becoming the second man from Southern Africa in as many elections.
The massive campaign team behind Motsepe, which Chiyangwa has been fronting, also has South African Football Association (SAFA) president Danny Jordaan, SAFA media manager Dominic Chimhavi among its main actors, while influential Nigerian Football Association president Amaju Pinnick and ZIFA’s Felton Kamambo have lent their weight of support too.
The CAF executive committee elections are set for Morocco on March 12.
“We are confident that once we take a unanimous decision to back one of our own, other members who want real change in CAF will join the winning party. In Dr Motsepe we have a candidate who will usher in a new era for African football,” said Chiyangwa in his rallying call. But just like he did on March 16, 2016, the COSAFA president, whose regional bloc is the biggest Zone under CAF with 14 members, has been telling anyone who has cared to listen that Motsepe is the right man to lead African football “into a better future’’.
Should he be ordained as CAF president, Motsepe will become the first Anglophone leader in the continental body’s 63-year history. And Motsepe’s presidential bid received just the tonic it needed when two of his rivals indicated that they would now withdraw their candidature and throw their weight behind the South African businessman.
Senegal Football Federation boss Augustin Senghor last week announced his decision to withdraw from the CAF presidential election and will now reportedly support Motsepe to become the new president of CAF. With Senghor having been the biggest threat to Motsepe’s ascendency to power, the latest developments are a huge boost to his bid as he is now the favourite to win the elections. Just like Senghor, Ivorian Jacques Anouma has also withdrawn from the race.
Ahmed Yahya, who was another presidential hopeful, could join Anouma and Senghor in signing a pact to throw their weight behind Motsepe amid reports that a meeting on such a move was due to take place yesterday in Nouakchott, Mauritania in the presence of FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
Anouma said his decision to pull out of the race was influenced by his belief that African football “cannot offer the world a face of division.”
“After much reflection, inspired by the values of understanding and union that Côte d’Ivoire has always promoted, convinced that it is better to create the conditions for a gathering of the best intelligence in order to make the collective interest of African soccer triumph, I decided to withdraw my candidacy,” Anouma announced on Ivorian television station RTI.
“By achieving this sacred union of the best African wills around the caf, with a common agenda, we can contribute together to its recovery. I will do so with the experience that is mine, always concerned about the interests of Côte d’Ivoire and Africa.
“This is how I will put my unique experience of continental and world soccer at the service of the necessary reconstruction of African football and the upcoming organisation of the afcon 2023 in Cote d’Ivoire.
“I believe in a united, strong and respected Africa of football. Tomorrow, I will therefore do everything to win alongside the next leading team, resulting from the agreements, the crucial victory of the rebirth of caf.”
According to reports of talks which took place last week, the deal in Nouakchott is set to see Senghor and Mauritanian Yahya assuming the roles of CAF first and second vice-president respectively.
Anouma is expected to exchange his candidature for the post of special advisor.
For a second straight election, Chiyangwa would have played a pivotal role in determining the shape of the CAF leadership.
