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Patrice Motsepe during a press conference on February 18, 2019 in Sandton, South Africa. (Photo: Gallo Images / Sowetan / Thulani Mbele)
Why would an enormously wealthy man with many other interests want to wallow in the murky waters of the administration of African football?
First published in DM168
It’s easy to see why African soccer would want billionaire mining magnate and philanthropist Patrice Motsepe to guide them to a brighter and far more lucrative future.
But it’s much harder trying to understand why someone with a wide range of interests like Motsepe, 58, would want to become president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), a dysfunctional organization barely emerging from decades of antediluvian thinking.
Motsepe has a seemingly unforgiving schedule and multiple interests. His money comes from the mining sector, but now he has created a bank and invested in a mobile network operator.
He is a member of several boards of directors, participates in events such as the World Economic Forum and has a foundation that gives away millions. As President Cyril Ramaphosa’s brother-in-law, he is also close to the center of power.
Adding to all of this is his passion for soccer, where he has invested literally hundreds of millions over the past 15 years to make Mamelodi Sundowns the dominant force in the national game and a household name across the continent.
All of this, as the president of the South African Football Association (Safa), Danny Jordaan, said when nominating Motsepe for the position this week, makes him a candidate with unprecedented credentials in African sport.
“We are convinced that his business acumen, strict adherence to governance, legal training, global business network, and commitment and love for African and world football make him a revolutionary choice for African football leadership.” Jordaan said.
Motsepe has the backing of FIFA
But why would Motsepe want a job like this? Certainly not for financial gain, although the incumbent, Ahmad Ahmad of Madagascar, has made various efforts to enrich himself, leading to corruption allegations that will likely be his downfall.
Every fool becomes a man with Motsepe’s means. Instead, he was probably sold on the fantastic idea of pulling the African game out of its dying state and into a position where it could rival the offerings of Europe and South America.
A noble proposition, albeit openly ambitious, but one that would require a vigor and dedication to which it would seem impossible for a man on Motsepe’s agenda to dedicate himself adequately.
His candidacy is supported by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who sees Africa, and African success, as central to his own chances of staying in power and changing the face of the global game.
Infantino organized a secret meeting of East African countries in Nairobi last week to push Motsepe’s candidacy.
For the FIFA president, 54 African member countries represent a powerful bloc, especially as the 55-member European association is deeply suspicious of his plans to reform world football, potentially to the detriment of the UEFA Champions League.
A Motsepe presidency would be perfect for Infantino. He could fortify the administration at Cairo headquarters with his own people, as he tried to do last year, and maneuver and manipulate a leader whose eye will not be on the ball.
Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. The CAF is currently a cesspool of corruption and self-interest, and its leaders attempt to steal the treasure. Ahmad’s double billing of expenses and the use of a French company to purchase equipment for CAF at inflated prices are well documented and are being investigated by the FIFA ethics committee. French police took him in for questioning last year.
He has largely been the puppet of his Moroccan MP Fouzi Lekjaa, who funded Ahmad’s early change initiatives when he took office. Lekjaa gave an infamous head-butt to a referee who made decisions against his club Renaissance Berkane at last year’s African Confederation Cup and then had his charges nefariously dropped.
CAF has to modernize
CAF desperately needs to break out of its old ways, its institutionalized habits, and the sense that it serves those who sit on its executive committee, and not the other way around.
More importantly, you need to find more sources of income, and you must dramatically improve the quality of your product to do so.
Traditionally, before FIFA began bequeathing grant money to Cairo, around 80% of CAF’s revenue came from the African Cup of Nations. This explains why it is held every two years instead of every four, as is customary at the other major continental championships.
Not only is it the largest sporting event in Africa, it is a tournament whose international profile has risen rapidly due to the growing number of Africans with international star appeal.
The doors were opened by the likes of Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto’o, and television audiences around the world and the resulting revenue have grown thanks to the appeal of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
But the African Champions League and the African Confederation Cup have modest appeal within the continent, and virtually no interest outside of that.
Infantino has already suggested an African Super League with the best teams on the continent in regular battle. It’s the kind of Super League that European clubs have rejected but that CAF has been contemplating, albeit slowly.
With Motsepe at the helm, Infantino’s myriad ideas to improve the African game could quickly gain ground and buy him the loyalty he needs to avoid any future threats to his FIFA presidency.
Motsepe, once the product has been refined, is expected to use his contacts and influence to ensure a flow of corporate money into the African game.
“African football must reach higher income levels for the benefit of its members. It must improve its global profile and its position in the FIFA confederation ”, adds Jordaan, whose personal nightmare is the amount of money that leaves the African coast to pay the television rights of the Premier League in England, LaLiga of Spain and others major (non-African) competitions, leagues and tournaments.
But as long as African consumers are more in love with Barcelona, Liverpool and Manchester United than with Enyimba, Asante Kotoko or Kaizer Chiefs, that’s a tough question, even beyond Motsepe’s ability.
As of Thursday’s deadline for nominations, there were four candidates for the presidency of the CAF, but by the time the final list is announced in January, it is expected that most will have left the race, convinced by Infantino that they will do on the sidelines.
Motsepe, however, cannot turn around now and will quickly realize that he has taken on an ambitious task, even if winning the election is not too difficult.
His position and reputation are now at stake, and the murky world of soccer politics is a far cry from the order and process of the corporate boardroom. DM168
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