How Africa crowned Patrice Motsepe as CAF President
It’s a new dawn in African Football, there is a new sheriff in town and this time, he is not one of the “so-called” cabals in the African Football Fraternity.
After months of “turbulence” and “storm” in CAF, a new Messiah has arrived, he has rebuked the ragging “storm” and upon his shoulders, the fate of African Football, on and off the pitch will rest for the next four years.
Introducing, Patrice Motsepe, the new President of the Confederation of African Football, a seasoned businessman, entrepreneur and administrator on the continent.
Patrice Motsepe was elected unopposed as the new CAF President during the 43rd Ordinary General Assembly in Rabat Morocco after Ahmad Ahmad’s three years as President came to end due to corruption allegations and nepotism.
Ahmad Ahmad was suspended in November 2020 for breaching four FIFA ethics code of conduct and was banned from football-related activities for five years. However, his sentence was reduced to two years after a ruling by the Court for Arbitration for Sports on Monday.
Patrice Motsepe did not get to the summit of the African Football administration without the help of FIFA President, Gianni Infantino who reportedly chaired a deal that led to the withdrawal of two of Patrice Motsepe’s rivals.
The outcome of the deal saw Senegal’s Augustin Senghor and Ahmed Yahya of Mauritania emerge as vice-presidents to Patrice Motsepe for the next four years.
Patrice Motsepe has highlighted that instead of corruption, nepotism and financial misappropriation which ended the tenure of his predecessor, holistic reforms, infrastructural developments will be the hallmark of his administration.
He believes that African Football can be the best but all hands must be on deck for it to materialize.
“African football must become the best in the world, It won’t happen overnight, but that is the test of what we are going to do over the next few years.”
On the flip side, one of the admirers of Patrice Motsepe, the President of Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick also secured a seat in the FIFA Council after a handful of his rivals pulled out of the race.
Lamine Bajo of Gambia was the first to pull out of the race while Kenya’s Mwendwa, Tanzania’s Wallace Karia and Andrew Kamanga of Zambia also pulled out of the race as well.
Only two seats were available for the English speaking countries but with the withdrawal of the others, Amaju Pinnick and Walter Nyamilandu of Malawi, the incumbent will emerge as winners from the English speaking African countries.
