Zimbabwe: Motsepe Bombshell shakes up African football

11/11/2020 Africa, Business, World



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The South African multimillionaire businessman Patrice Motsepe dropped a bomb yesterday that shook the soccer landscape of the continent when he announced that he will run for the presidency of the CAF in March of next year.

The 58-year-old mining magnate, named by Forbes as the 10th richest man in Africa with a net worth of $ 2.4 billion, is the president of the 2016 African champion club, Mamelodi Sundowns, a position he will have to leave if he wins the elections.

Motsepe is believed to be the choice of FIFA’s establishment to restore sanity to African football after the game was devastated by poor governance, including alleged embezzlement.

The governing body of world football was forced to intervene, including the secondment of its general secretary, Fatma Samoura, to work at the CAF headquarters and restore order.

If Motsepe wins, he will become the second president of the South African CAF, after incumbent Ahmad Ahmad was brought to power by a rebellion whose roots were in this region three years ago.

Yet Ahmad has faced many of those who brought him to power, amid a series of scandals, including his arrest by French police in July last year.

A CAF audit uncovered a series of serious financial irregularities with questions about millions of dollars in cash payments that were distributed to executives and national associations without the expected records.

The PwC report found “possible abuse of power” and reported “possible fraudulent adjustments” in the accounting records that the auditors said were “unreliable and unreliable.”

PwC found that US $ 4.6 million from 14 payments “had no or insufficient supporting documentation to determine the beneficiary, purpose and benefit of CAF”, while another payment of US $ 3.6 million “was considered unusual or higher risk. “

“Based on the procedures performed and the documents reviewed, several red flags, potential elements of mismanagement and possible abuse of power were found in key areas of CAF’s finances and operations,” said PwC.

“Given the serious nature of certain findings and red flags identified in preliminary due diligence, we cannot rule out the possibility of possible wrongdoing.”

Ahmad was said to have authorized CAF to pay around US $ 100,000 for 18 people, including himself, to travel on a pilgrimage from Umrah to Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

“CAF stated that the cost of traveling 18 people between their countries of origin to Egypt was reserved as ‘official expense’ to organize a meeting in Egypt and the cost of traveling between Egypt and Saudi Arabia was personally assumed by the president of CAF” , The report. said.

“However, CAF was unable to provide any documents to support that an official meeting was organized in Egypt during this time. It should be noted that the alleged travel costs between Egypt and Saudi Arabia range from US $ 20,000 to US $ 30.” 000 more than the actual refund made by the president of CAF “.

Ahmad, who recently claimed he had the support of 46 African nations in attempting another term as CAF chief, now faces the possibility of being prevented from doing so by FIFA, after violating some of the soccer governing body’s ethics. world.

COSAFA, under the chairmanship of its president Philip Chiyangwa, had initially led the wave of support for Ahmad to go to a second term, but things have changed dramatically since reports emerged that the head of the CAF now faces sanctions from the FIFA.

South Africa, the largest and most powerful member of COSAFA, has already supported Motsepe with the Zimbabwe and Botswana soccer associations also backing the billionaire’s candidacy.

His colleagues from Nigeria and Sierra Leone have also done the same and, according to sources, by Thursday more than a quarter of CAF members would have declared their support for Motsepe.

Isha Johansen, president of the Sierra Leone FA, who is also a member of the CAF executive council, said Motsepe had a passion to take the game to the next level.

“Change has become an all too familiar motto and mantra in politics, be it national or football, but the question is how many can attest to having achieved real and genuine change for everyone and not for some?” he asked yesterday.

“The key to successful governance starts from the point where the right person or people are placed in the right positions for the right reasons.

“African football and the African continent must be on the world platform for the right reasons.

“Patrice Motsepe, like me, is a humanitarian and a football club owner. His passion for football and his successful business ventures have been driven by humanity and a genuine need to change the narrative of the African continent.

“Patrice, in my opinion, has the ability to watch more than 90 minutes on a field.”

With SAFA’s endorsement of Motsepe, it also means that Ahmad has lost the support of one of his immediate lieutenants, Danny Jordaan, CAF’s third vice president.

Nominations will close on Thursday.

“The SAFA National Executive Committee passed a resolution in turns by overwhelming majority to nominate Dr. Patrice Motsepe for the position of CAF President,” SAFA announced.