In Africa, the information had the effect of a bomb. South African Patrice Motsepe, 58, a billionaire from Soweto, whose personal fortune is estimated at $2,4 billion, is a candidate for the presidency of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). He poses as a direct rival to the outgoing president, the Malagasy Ahmad Ahmad.
The announcement came on Monday, November 9. It's official. But, curiously, it did not come from Patrice Motsepe himself. The businessman is in quarantine. As proof of the importance of his candidacy for South Africa, the President of the Football Association (SAFA), Danny Jordaan, and the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, did so to him. They called a press conference in Johannesburg to reveal the news.
Patrice Motsepe joins two other candidates declared before him in the race: Ahmad Ahmad, already in the running, but under investigation by the FIFA ethics committee which could make him ineligible; and the Ivorian Jacques Anouma, the former president of the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF).
The deadline for submitting applications is Thursday, November 12 at midnight. The election for the presidency of CAF is scheduled to take place on March 12, 2021 in Rabat, Morocco.
Patrice Motsepe certainly has what it takes to win. Money, first of all, is often a miraculous windfall in the world of football. His fortune acquired in mineral extraction would make him, according to the magazine Forbes, the eighth richest man on the African continent.
The network, then. Patrice Motsepe is the brother-in-law of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, a direct family link which partly explains the presence of a member of the government at the press conference announcing his candidacy.
Finally, Patrice Motsepe is not completely unknown in the world of football. For several years he has chaired a club in Pretoria, the Mamelodi Sundowns. A function that is anything but anecdotal, since it allows it to meet the CAF eligibility criteria. The statutes of the confederation indeed stipulate that a candidate “ must have played an active role in football for at least two of the last five years preceding the submission of their application. »
Can he win? Without a doubt. When Ahmad Ahmad's candidacy was announced at the end of last month, the outgoing president's camp assured that the Malagasy leader could count on the support of 46 of the 54 national federations affiliated with CAF. But the figure seems more than doubtful.
Monday, November 9, the press conference announcing the candidacy of the South African billionaire was an opportunity for his supporters to display the support of three countries in English-speaking Africa. Amaju Pinnick, the president of the Nigerian Football Federation, Isha Johansen, his counterpart from Sierra Leone, and Maclean Letshwiti, the strong man of football in Botswana, expressed their support for the South African candidate through messages in video.
« We will work, play and harm him to be elected. suggested Amaju Pinnick, once considered a possible candidate. “ We are all in favor of change. Four years ago, we were talking about a wind of change. We support Patrice Motsepe because we have not seen this real change that African football needs. insisted Isha Johansen. “ We have one of the greatest geniuses in business as a CAF candidate,” pleaded Danny Jordan, the president of the South African Football Federation. In these times of health crisis and economic uncertainty, African football could well prefer business genius to business champion.
