Cosafa divided over Caf posts

From Petros Kausiyo in KHARTOUM, Sudan
AS the continental game braces for elections for the Confederation of African Football executive, the Southern African region has again been a sorry tale of a hugely divided bloc, struggling to influence the politics of the game on the continent.
The 33rd Caf Congress will take place at the Friendship Hall in Khartoum on Wednesday with focus being on the elections for positions in the continental body as well as Africa’s four representatives on the Fifa executive.
But the 14-member Cosafa region has continued to be divided with the bloc fielding more than two candidates with the likes of Zambian legend Kalusha Bwalya, Walter Nyamilandu of Malawi, Cosafa president Suketu Patel and John Muinjo and Adam Mthethwa among those in the race.
Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of the Local Organising Committee for the first World Cup to be staged in Africa – the 2010 edition in South Africa withdrew from the race for a place on the Caf executive and will now stand only for a position on the Fifa leadership. The 59-year-old Jordaan, who was the first to make his intentions public, was nominated by his country for the Fifa post, one of which was held by Nigerian Amos Adamu, suspended by Fifa following allegations of vote-selling in the election for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts.
Former Cosafa secretary-general Ashford Mamelodi has constantly warned that the region will not be able to influence much in the way the 53-member Caf is run because of its divisions.
Mamelodi warned the Cosafa region in September last year that they needed to unite first then seek partnerships with the Eastern and Central African blocs instead of constantly complaining about being sidelined in crucial decision making by the North and West African nations.
“As honorary secretary-general of Cosafa I think we are not exploiting the platform that we have. Cosafa has 14 countries and Cecafa 13 and if we feel there are prejudices that we have suffered in the governance of football we need to exploit the numbers that we have because if we come together we will constitute more than 50 percent of Caf.
“The North Zone has five countries, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Libya and the West are divided into two West A and West B yet they have two representatives each on the Caf executive.
“Where are the leaders in the region to fight for their agendas? I think they need to dialogue more and lobby as one voice,” Mamelodi said.
But the Fifa development officer for Southern Africa’s advice appears to have fallen on deaf ears as Cosafa member associations would now have to go into Wednesday’s indaba deeply divided over whom to choose between the likes of Football Association of Zambia president Bwalya and Patel of Seychelles. That being Cosafa president does not automatically guarantee one a seat on the Caf executive means that Patel, whose regional leadership failed to hold the Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup after initially penciling it for Angola, would have to seek the mandate of the entire continent to make it among long-serving president Issa Hayatou’s lieutenants.
Zifa vice-president Ndumiso Gumede noted with concern the failure by the Cosafa region to come up with a common position ahead of the Caf congress.
Gumede will head a three-member Zifa delegation that includes acting chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze and board member finance Elliot Kasu to the congress. The Zifa delegation is expected to arrive in Khartoum tonight. But as they fly into Sudan tonight, they will find that the official Caf rendezvous for the African Nations Championships – the exquisite Borj El Fatih hotel, an elegant architectural masterpiece of steel and glass – has been a hive of intense canvassing by the candidates. Gumede said it was disappointing that the Cosafa region was fielding more than one candidate unlike their Northern counterparts who are likely to back Algerian Mohamed Raouraoua.
“Our point as we go to the congress is that we seem not to be working together as the Cosafa or rather Sadc region. We seem to have a number of candidates yet we should get together as Cosafa and offer the best possible candidate to stand for the region. The fact that we have more than three candidates is a clear indication that we are not working together as a group,” Gumede said.
Gumede commended Jordaan for deciding to focus his attention on seeking just a place on the Fifa executive.
“I think his performance during the World Cup was commendable and should stand him in good stead and we need that kind of representation from Southern Africa on the Fifa executive . . . somebody who is proactive and can truly represent us,” Gumede said.