Johannesburg – Newly elected CAF president Patrice Motsepe made a number of pledges in his endeavour to rid African football of its poisoned chalice. Xolile Mtshazo focuses on the men and women who will assist him in the task ahead.
Motsepe has called for unity in order for him to take the game forward but ahead of him is the big elephant in the room, corruption, that has plague football all over the world, as well as television rights, sponsorship and prize money, and the streamlining of competitions.
Particularly problematic with the last two CAF presidents, Issa Hayatou of Cameroon, who served for 27 years and Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad, whose tenure was cut short after two years, was their dented image following allegations of corruption levelled against them. Influential in whatever decisions Motsepe makes will be two key men, his special adviser Ivorian lawyer Jacques Anouma, a member of the Fifa exco and new CAF general secretary, and revered Congolese football official Veron Mosengo- Omba, running the dayto-day affairs of CAF.
Motsepe will be surrounded by fi ve vice-presidents, including a woman, Kanizat Ibrahim from the Comoros.
So, who are the people elected last week to assist Motsepe navigate his way to success at headquarters of continental football, the CAF House in Cairo, Egypt? First vice-president – Augustin Senghor is a Senegalese politician who has been a member of the CAF exco since 2019.
A member of the Rally of the Ecologists of Senegal, he became the mayor of Goree in 2002, prominently featuring anti-erosion measures on his platform. Second vice-president – Ahmed Yahya is the head of the Mauritania Football Federation since 2011.
He was named the continent’s best football administrator at the 2017 CAF Awards.
Third vice-president – Suleiman Hassan Waberi, the president of the Djibouti Football Federation. Fourth and fifth vice-presidents – Seidou Mbombo Njoya of Cameroon and Comoros woman Ibrahim, serving with 17 other members of the CAF executive committee.
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