May 24 – CAF boss Patrice Motsepe has become the latest football administrator to downplay the plight of migrant workers in Qatar when he spoke of their “privilege and the excitement of employment” at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The billionaire and mining tycoon from South Africa was moderating the session ‘sport as a unifying force’ that included an address by the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani as well as panellists FIFA president Gianni Infantino, Secretary-General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) Hassan Al Thawadi and FIFA Chief of Global Development Arsene Wenger.
“Every time I am in Qatar I see thousands of people from all over the world having the privilege and the excitement of employment and taking money home with the building of the stadiums, the building of hotels. It has huge benefits for our people in the Middle East as well as worldwide,” said Motsepe.
It’s not the first time this year that top football administrators have caused controversy with their views on migrant workers in Qatar and beyond. Throughout the protracted build-up to the 2022 World Cup, Qatar has received major criticism for its treatment of migrant workers and human rights record. At the Milken conference, Infantino, who lives in Doha, claimed that migrant workers in Qatar gain pride from hard work.
Earlier this year, in a speech at the Council of Europe, the FIFA boss, who called himself “a son of immigrants” and “a product of European integration and of the values of human rights and inclusion”, linked plans for a biennial World Cup to a better future for Africans: “We need to find ways to include the entire world, to give hope to Africans so that they don’t need to cross the Mediterranean in order to find, maybe, a better life, but more probably dead in the sea. We have to give them opportunities and dignity.”
Neither is it the first time that Motsepe’s words have caused controversy in Davos. In 2020, Motsepe’s declaration of love for Donald Trump sparked a backlash. He said: “Africa loves America. Africa loves you… we want America to do well. We want you to do well.”
Motsepe later apologised saying that “I do not have the right to speak on behalf of anybody except myself.”
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