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Patrice Motsepe’s bid to become the next president of the African Football Confederation (Caf) is gaining momentum, but the mining magnate has preferred to do most of the business behind the scenes.
The Mamelodi Sundowns owner’s bid has been largely muted and it was feared that he would be too quiet as the March 2021 election date drew closer with each passing day.
But the president of the South African Football Association (Safa), Danny Jordaan, allayed those fears on Wednesday and revealed that a lot is happening, even though most of the deals are not being made in the public domain. Safa’s president is an expert on continental affairs and is helping Motsepe with lobbying in the muddy terrain of African football.
“The submission date for all the candidates was November 12, 2020, you know, and all the candidates submitted to the FIFA Ethics Committee,” said Jordaan.
“The FIFA Ethics Committee will review all the candidates and you know that they (FIFA) have already ruled out or banned Ahmad Ahmad.
“Now we only have four candidates and on January 12 FIFA and Caf will present the final list of candidates who have passed the integrity test. [Motsepe] he said look, I want to know who I’m up against and who has gone through the integrity test to find out.
“But what has he done in the meantime, he has gone to Egypt twice, last Thursday he met with the executive of Caf and he was in other North African countries. We had 14 presidents present at the Sundowns 50th anniversary celebrations here this past weekend. [in SA] and we had 18 other presidents apologizing. “
Former Caf president Ahmad was sanctioned by world soccer governing body FIFA for five years for financial misconduct last month.
FIFA said in a statement that the investigation covered Ahmad’s conduct in his role as Caf president during the period from 2017 to 2019.
But even in his absence, Motsepe still faces stiff opposition and has to compete with Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast Football Federation, Senegal FA president Augustin Senghor and Mauritania federation chief. , Ahmed Yahya.
Jordaan said the travel restrictions required by Covid-19 have also hampered free movement on the continent and in other parts of the world.
“You must remember that now it is very difficult to travel, before traveling you must take a test and every 72 hours you must take another,” he said.
“Now I am in my ninth test and we are going to Qatar for my tenth test there and this becomes very difficult.
“But we saw the presidents there at the 50th anniversary celebrations and practically all the presidents from South Africa were there, with the exception of Mauritius and Seychelles because there are no flights there.
“[On Thursday] He flies to Qatar because there is the final of the Asian Champions League, and then he will go to at least three other African countries. It has been making rounds.
“Of the 14 presidents who attended the 50th anniversary celebrations, ten of them came from the Cosafa region and others apologized.
“We also had the presidents Guinea Bissau, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Burundi here. He goes directly to African countries and I think he is the only candidate who goes to each of the 52 African countries because he has the capacity to go there and he is doing it. “
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