The 43rd CAF General Assembly, meeting today, 12 March 2021 in Rabat, Morocco, elected Dr Patrice Motsepe, as President of CAF.

Dr Motsepe, who becomes the seventh person to occupy the position of CAF President, begins his four-year term after being elected unopposed by the Member Associations of CAF, present in Rabat.

Going to the General Assembly, Africa adopted a unity stance which saw other three candidates, namely Augustin Senghor, Ahmed Yahya and Jacques Anouma withdraw from the race to be President.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who was in attendance in Rabat in his remarks in the General Assembly commended the African Member Associates for the unity they have displayed in the last few weeks.

Dr. Motsepe, 59, is an accomplished South African businessman and philanthropist and no stranger to football. For almost two decades, he has been the President of a South African club, Mamelodi Sundowns.

In his first address as CAF President, Dr Motsepe spoke about creating a « new CAF » that will take African football to new heights.

“I’m very excited. There is a great deal of urgency of getting things done. There is a going to be a lot of work and a lot of running. We have to make sure that African football is not just competitive but globally successful. Africa spends millions of dollars every year paying for tv rights of leagues outside Africa. There is a need to build our own products and we will succeed.

“The face of African football will never be the same again. 95% of our conversations will be about football and that is fine but there must be that 5% where we discuss the importance of the private sector partnerships. We need to restore the pride, the dignity and the respect of Africa,” said Dr Motsepe.

“There is a great deal of urgency and this is something we all know. One of the things I’m going to propose is that we need to meet regularly as the Member Associates Presidents. We need to close the distance between the members and CAF. I believe we have a clear understanding of what needs to be done. At times we find fancy words to describe what needs to be done but the most important thing is implementation.”

Dr Motsepe has committed to visiting each of the 54 Member Associates of CAF as part of a plan to understand the problems facing Member Associates and also to assist in creating better relations with the corporate world.

The supreme body of CAF also approved important decisions:

• The activity report and financial statements as of June 30, 2020, as well as the budget for 2021-2022 estimated at $ 118 million, of which $97 million will be devoted to football development.
• The increase in the number of Vice-Presidents from three to five in order to ensure better representation of all the components of CAF within the Bureau of the Executive Committee
• Better precision in the limits of the exercise of eligibility control by the governance committee of CAF, in particular for the President and members of the FIFA Council.
• The modification of the conditions of admission to the quality of members of the organization.

ELECTIVE GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESULTS

CAF PRESIDENT

Dr. Patrice Motsepe (Afrique du Sud)

FIFA Council                                       

Francophone

Mathurin de Chacus (Benin) / Mamoutou Toure (Mali)

Anglophone

Amaju Melvin Pinnick (Nigeria)

Arabophone Hispanophone Lusophone

Hani Abo Rida (Egypt) / Fouzi Lekjaa (Morocco) m

Women Representative

Isha Johansen (Sierra Leone)

CAF EXECUTIVE

Women Representative

Kanizat IBRAHIM (Comoros)

North Zone

Wadie Jary (Tunisia)

West Zone A

Mustapha Ishola Raji (Liberia)

West Zone B

Djibrilla Hima Hamidou (Niger)

Central Zone

Seidou Mbombo Njoya (Cameroon)

Centre-East Zone

Suleiman Waberi (Djibouti)

South Zone

Evlis Raja Chetty (Seychelles) / Maclean Cortez LETSHWITI (Botswana)

Short Profile: Dr Patrice Motsepe

• Name: Dr. Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe
• Age: 59 (born: 28 January 1962)
• Nationality: South Africa
• Founder and Chairman of African Rainbow Minerals
• President of Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (since 2003)
• Founder of African Rainbow Capital (2016)
• Founder of Motsepe Foundation (together with Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsepe): (1999)
• Bought low-producing gold mine shafts and turned them profitable (1997)
• Former partner at Bowman Gilfillan Law firm in Johannesburg (1994)

Background Information: CAF Presidents:

• Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem (Egypt): 1957 – 1958
• Abdel Aziz Mostafa (Egypt): 1958 – 1968
• Abdel Halim Mohamed (Sudan): 1968 – 1972
• Ydnekatchew Tessema (Ethiopia): 1972 – 1987
• Abdel Halim Mohamed (Sudan): 1987 – 1988
• Issa Hayatou: (Cameroon): 1988 – 2017
• Ahmad Ahmad: (Madagascar: 2017 – 2021
• Patrice Motsepe: (South Africa) 2021 –

By Cafonline