South African business mogul, Dr Patrice Motsepe elected as the President of CAF at the 43rd CAF General Assembly held on 12th March 2021 in Rabat, Morocco.
Dr. Motsepe becomes the first-ever South African to lead the organisation since its inception. He also becomes the seventh (7th) person to occupy the position of CAF President. His tenure would last for four years after he was elected unopposed to replace the outgoing Ahmad Ahmad, whose tenure was clouded with allegations of financial wrongdoing and misconduct.
Going to the General Assembly, there were three other candidates apart from Dr. Mostepe. Senegal’s Augustin Senghor, Ahmed Yahya of Mauritania and Ivorian Jacques Anouma were also vying for the position of the CAF President.
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Dr Motsepe’s first words upon his election as CAF president were, “I thank my brother Gianni, for the vision and the encouragement of unity. We can only deal with the challenges of Africa when we are united.”
In his first address as the CAF President, he said the following:
“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.”
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“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.”Â
The supreme body of CAF also approved 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 among other things approved.
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What you should know about Motsepe
- Dr. Motsepe, 59, is a South African billionaire and was ranked 9th in the top 10 African billionaires by Forbes.
- He has a net worth of $3 billion, he is also the founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals who deal in mining.
- He is no stranger to the footballing world as he has been the President of a South African club, Mamelodi Sundowns for almost two decades now.
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