It is almost certain that South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe will return for a second term as the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

He is the only candidate as of the close of nomination on Tuesday, 12 November, confirming that Motsepe will run unopposed.

Motsepe took over from Madagascar’s Ahmed in March 2021 and now looks set to continue leading African football’s governing body after negotiations reportedly cleared the path for his re-election.

Alongside the CAF presidency vote, elections will also decide the new members of the CAF Executive Committee and Africa’s representatives on the FIFA Council.

Nigeria’s Amaju Pinnick and Morocco’s  Fouzi Lekjaa, are serving members of the FIFA Council and hope to retain their seats.

Lekjaa is also the President of the Royal Moroccan Football Association (FRMF).

Other outgoing members include Egypt’s Hany Aboureda, Mali’s Mamadou Toure, Benin’s Martin Tchakos, and Sierra Leone’s Aisha Johansen.

The elections will be held on March 12 in Cairo, Egypt during CAF’s General Assembly. 

Patrice Motsepe is a South African billionaire and businessman who made his fortune in mining.

He founded African Rainbow Minerals, a big mining company, and was the first Black African to join the Forbes  billionaire list.

 In 2021, he took on a major role in African football by becoming the CAF president.  

South African Football Association (SAFA) President Danny Jordaan was arrested on Wednesday over allegations he used the organisation’s money for his own purposes, according to local media reports.

Jordaan, who was a leading figure in bringing the 2010 World Cup to South Africa, had tried to interdict his imminent arrest on Tuesday, but the Johannesburg High Court is only scheduled to hear his submission on Thursday.

The arrest stems from a raid by police on the SAFA offices in March, after which police spokesperson Katlego Mogale said the allegations are that “between 2014 and 2018, the president of SAFA used the organisation’s resources for his personal gain, including hiring a private security company for his personal protection and a public relations company, without authorisation from the SAFA board.”

Jordaan, 73, and his reported co-accused, SAFA chief financial officer Gronie Hluyo and businessman Trevor Neethling, are due to appear in court later on Wednesday.

Neither Jordaan nor SAFA responded to a request for comment from Reuters, but in his affidavit to court seeking to block his arrest, he denies any wrongdoing.

-Reuters

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

It is over two weeks now since the return of the National Sports Commission (NSC) as the apex sports governing body of Nigeria. Beyond the naming of Shehu Dikko as the Chairman, nothing more has been made public regarding the role of the NSC and its composition.

In simple terms, what has happened so far is a mere change of nomenclature from the Federal Ministry of Sports Development to the National Sports Commission. Beyond that, Sports organisation in the country have been downgraded as the man at the apex cannot sit at the weekly Federal Executive Council since is not a cabinet-ranked administrator.

Beyond that, the leadership of sports organisation is reduced to that of sole administrator since there is no board or board members as it was when there were extant laws setting up the NSC.

Such laws included the Decree 34 of 1971 and the amended version, Decree 34 of 1979. Those laws spelt out the roles and mode of composition of the National Sports Commission.

For instance, Decree 34 of 1971 established the NSC as a replacement for the National Sports Council, which was previously a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Labour.

It did not stand in isolation. It worked under a commissioner *now a minister in the current dispensation). It had at the apex, a chairman overseeing a board with a well-defined composition.    Also, there was an Executive Committee, of which the NSC Charman is the head.

The composition of both the NSC and its executive committee was well articulated. So also, were their roles. Within the NSC, was also another board, the National Stadia Management Board which the NSC Chairman heads.

 Others include the commission’s secretary and five other members drawn from the NSC.

 Like what happens in present-day Morocco, where most of the kingdom’s owned stadiums are being kept in good condition by the state-run company, Société nationale de réalisation et de gestion des stades (SONARGES) which in English translates to National stadium construction and management company., the stadia management board in the previous NSC was charged with that same responsibility of maintenance.

As it is now, a chairman has been named for the NSC. Without a board, he becomes a sole administrator and will rule according to his understandings as the public has not been informed of any specific assignment for the chairman.

The ideal would have been the establishment of a board for the NSC and mode of composition well laid out as were the  instances with the Decree 34 of 1971 and the amended version of 1979 – Decree 34 of 1979.

Whatever the situation, the NSC deserves to have a minister of cabinet ranking for direct liaison with the Federal Government. Alternatively, the chairman should be upgraded to the ministerial position and supervision a board that will be an upgrade of the ones stipulated in the decrees 34 of 1971 and 1979.

With the Decree 7 of 1991dissolving the NSC, the nation appears to have lost track of the essence of the commission. Even when it was brought back under later regimes, it was just another nomenclature for the sports ministry as the NSC existed without a board.

Changing names from Ministry to Commission will not necessarily translate to getting improvement in sports administration.  An NSC in the present situation is just a substitute to the Ministry of Sports. It is not an alternative.