That “a fish rots from the head down” is a popular proverb meaning that when an organisation or system fails, the root cause is usually indecisive leadership. It signifies that incompetence, corruption, or toxic culture originates at the top and spreads downwards, emphasising that leaders are responsible for the health of their organisations.
This week we witnessed one of the lowest points in African football, a sucker punch below the belt that is so disheartening and demoralising. Getting a statement on the stroke of midnight on Tuesday announcing that 2025 Afcon champions Senegal have been stripped of their title for walking off the pitch during the final and that Morocco, who finished as runners-up, were confirmed as the new champions, really felt like I was being visited by Freddy Krueger of A Nightmare on Elm Street horror flicks.
I have covered Motsepe since 2003 when he bought Mamelodi Sundowns from the Tsichlas family. At the beginning, he was shooting in the dark, had a bottomless pit of cash and was buying players willy-nilly.
He finally got things right and the club was established as the best in the country, and they dominated the local PSL landscape. With his vision and ambition, he turned the club into a dynasty that is feared and equally respected in Africa. And as a result, his rise to the top echelons of CAF was a free flow.
But at CAF he hasn’t been as prolific as he was in the mining landscape, where his proficiency and resolve culminated in billions of rands.
At CAF, he has always faced difficulties from the Francophone fellows in west Africa and the hostility from the Arab world in the north.
I can never accuse Motsepe of being corrupt or incompetent, but after the shocking pronouncement that Morocco have won the appeal, which was met by a huge outcry and condemnation, Motsepe dug himself deep in the mud with a video statement trying to repair the damage. The more Motsepe explained, the more he tied himself in knots.
The more he repeated the words “integrity”, “high standards” and “credibility”, the more desperate he sounded, and the more football followers got enraged – the whole stunt was just poorly executed, and it added another blow to the already kowtowing CAF.
Motsepe handcuffed himself when he tried to please everyone by introducing ‘independent’ judicial bodies at CAF.
If that was not the case, Motsepe could have vehemently rejected the verdict delivered by that independent appeal board. His executive committee could have sent them packing, back to the boardroom to find a more sensible and football-aligned compromise.
They could have dealt with them sternly and reminded them that the image of African football was at stake and with the entire world watching, there was going to be a huge outcry.
But Motsepe tried to please everyone with his diplomacy, and now he has to clean up the mess – and he is certainly not winning in that aspect.
Senegal are not giving back the loot, the gold medals and the trophy. They are taking the matter to CAS in Switzerland, the highest sports arbitration court in the world.
CAF now wants Swiss lawyers to teach them English and to interpret the very same laws that they themselves drafted and chalked in their constitution.
The entire world must be laughing at the mother continent, and doomsayers are saying, “we told you about that Mickey Mouse continental federation”.
The late disco pop star Senyaka may have not been a known wordsmith, a Shakespeare or a Mzwakhe Mbuli but he once said that there are things you can give to a person…like a packet of cigarettes, a skorokoro Citi Golf, or even an old leather jacket, and there are things that you just cannot give to someone.
And now, like a packet of 20 Rothmans, CAF has given away a whole Afcon, which was watched live by billions of people around the world, to Morocco.
