May 30 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Patrice Motsepe (pictured left) has reprimanded the South African Football Association (SAFA) and its president Danny Jordaan (pictured right) for their dispute with the Council of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA).
Addressing Cosafa’s annual general meeting, Motsepe underscored that he doesn’t want the football family’s disputes to be fought out in the public domain.
“We are all family and part of being family, at times we’ve got to talk about the difficult things and we’ve got to talk about the areas where there’s a need for improvement,” said Motsepe.
“That’s why I was saying that the way that I read in the papers in newspapers and on media that there’s a disagreement between SAFA and COSAFA, that should never happen. Any disagreement you discuss privately and you resolve it. It’s unacceptable.”
Motsepe believes that Jordaan, his advisor at CAF, should have handled the matter better.
“I mean Danny Jordaan is not just the president of SAFA, he’s my advisor and it should never happen. He should have provided leadership to tell his people, don’t go public, you don’t do that. It reflects disunity among us,” said Motsepe.
“So, I’m discussing it amongst us because there should not be an artificial coming together. I mean you can see when somebody is loyal and committed and is a partner and you can also see when somebody says ‘I’m loyal, I’m committed, I’m a partner’ but in fact it’s not and I know that Danny Jordaan and SAFA is a committed loyal partner.”
Inside World Football understands that FIFA’s senior leadership also talked to Jordaan.
Cosafa is currently led by Artur Almeida e Silva, the controversial boss of Angolan football who, like CAF supremo Motsepe, is a close ally of FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
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