By Samindra Kunti and Andrew Warshaw
February 14 – Issa Hayatou’s quest to remain African football’s all-powerful figurehead is heading for open warfare after southern African states announced they were backing his rival for the presidency in defiance of their confederation.
COSAFA, the 14-strong Council of Southern African Football Association, represent a quarter of the CAF membership and last weekend unanimously endorsed Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad (sic) to succeed Hayatou at next month’s election in Ethiopia.
Hayatou is seeking an eighth term of office, unthinkable in most other FIFA confederations where term limits are rapidly becoming the norm of reform processes. But Zimbabwe’s highly ambitious Phillip Chiyangwa, who heads COSAFA, is leading the fight to unseat the veteran FIFA vice-president from Cameroon.
Chiyangwa has called a meeting of various other African FA presidents for February 24 in Harare yet has been reprimanded by CAF – on behalf of Hayatou himself – for “an attempt to destabilise” the governing body.
CAF wrote to COSAFA saying that “you do not have any authority to convene such a meeting, without CAF knowledge nor without its required approval”.
“Convening a meeting with representatives of many member associations outside COSAFA zone is deemed to represent an attempt to destabilise CAF.”
“We draw your attention to the obligation of all zonal unions to respect the authority of CAF, and not to conduct in any activities that undermine the common objectives of CAF, for the benefit of African football development. The CAF Executive Committee reserves it rights to sanction any infringement to the CAF statutes.”
In a defiant response to what he clearly perceived as a direct threat, Chiyangwa cited FIFA statutes and human rights.
“I was taken aback, to say the least, by the tone of your letter and the clear insinuation that such a gathering between presidents of member associations on the African continent would be considered, outrightly, as an attempt to destabilise CAF,” wrote Chiyangwa according to the BBC.
He added that CAF’s statutes “promote friendly relations between National Associations, zonal unions, clubs, officials and players” and insisted the meeting is for “that very objective”.
CAF’s warning could be construed as somewhat heavy handed given that on numerous occasions its own statutes have been changed to suit Hayatou including banning presidential bids from officials who were not members of its executive committee and scrapping the rule that stopped officials serving past the age of 70 from standing – the age Hayatou reached last August.
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