IT’S a defining week for African football, which is expected to set the tone for a change of guard in the leadership of the game on the continent, with long-serving CAF president Issa Hayatou battling a tsunami which could sweep him from power.
The Cameroonian strongman — who has been in charge of CAF since 1988 — is facing his biggest challenge to remain as head of African football, with COSAFA leading a rebellion by declaring their support for challenger Ahmad Ahmad of Madagascar.
COSAFA president Philip Chiyangwa, who is also the ZIFA boss, is Ahmad’s election agent and last week claimed they already have more than the required number of votes to topple Hayatou.
Chiyangwa said the Cameroonian still had time to walk away with dignity by pulling out of the race rather than face the embarrassment of being humiliated at the polls which he is set to lose.
“We have the numbers now, far more than 28 and every day we are getting more votes as people realise that this is an opportunity for fresh faces to be thrust into the CAF leadership so that they also bring in fresh ideas,” said Chiyangwa.
“When I told you guys that I was going to win the COSAFA presidential elections, some of you guys laughed at me, but I knew what I was doing because I am a winner and I have always won my battles and I guess I surprised you with what happened.
“Now I am telling you that this election is done because Ahmad has the support and come March 16, there will be a new CAF president and you are doubting me again.
“Of course, Issa has done his part for football in Africa and the best way for him would be to walk away from all this with his dignity intact, to say that I have run my race and it’s up to the other guy to lead the continent.”
FIFA president Gianni Infantino is expected in South Africa this week, where he will meet all the football leaders on the continent before flying to Harare on Thursday to attend Chiyangwa’s birthday bash.
The trip has not gone down well with the CAF leaders, who claim Infantino will use his visit to prop up Ahmad’s candidature, an allegation which the FIFA boss has refuted by saying he didn’t have any issues against Hayatou and only respected a democratic process when it comes to choosing the CAF boss.
The CAF leadership, though, didn’t support Infantino when he ran for the FIFA presidency in February last year.
Instead, CAF threw their weight behind Sheikh Salman.
“The executive committee decided that CAF will give full support to Sheikh Salman with his candidacy for FIFA presidency,” CAF first vice-president Suketu Patel told reporters.
The other CAF vice-president Almamy Kabele Camara said the decision was taken “unanimously”.
Sheikh Salman also acknowledged the CAF support.
“I am humbled by the support of CAF’s executive committee and tremendously encouraged by the unanimous decision to support my bid,” he said in a statement.
“I am deeply honoured to have earned the trust of many of our African friends at this crucial stage of the campaigning effort.”
But a rebellion by African countries, with most of the Southern and Eastern countries, voting for Infantino, saw the Swiss lawyer upstaging his rivals.
The signs, though, had been there for some time.
Journalist Ben Rumsby, writing in the Daily Telegraph on February 22 last year, noted that there could be a rebellion within African football and it could benefit Infantino.
“Electioneering for the FIFA presidency reached fever pitch last night after Gianni Infantino claimed more than half of Africa’s 54 voters would rebel against their own confederation and support him,” Rumsby wrote.
“Infantino made the bold assertion during a visit to Robben Island with rival candidate Tokyo Sexwale, declaring: ‘I will have a majority of the African votes.
“In the discussions I’ve had with many African presidents, I can say I feel very confident.’
“If true, that could hand Infantino a surprise victory in the race to succeed Sepp Blatter, with the UEFA general secretary already boasting public support from Europe and South and Central America.
“The Confederation of African Football had publicly backed Sheikh Salman Ebrahim Al-Khalifa earlier this month, which was seen as a sign the vast majority of its members would vote for him.
“Infantino said his contrary belief came from private visits to Africa, FIFA’S largest confederation by number of voting countries.”
And one of Africa’s football leaders, Isha Johansen of Sierra Leone, also made it clear that the continent, contrary to the song that was being sung by their leadership, would never vote en-bloc for one candidate.
Speaking to Piers Edwards, the BBC expert on African football, Johansen said Africa had become fragmented.
“It’s a cliché,” Johansen told BBC Sport.
“Africa’s vote will not come en-bloc, as was in the past, so we are not the key issue any more.”
And Edwards saw the looming disappointment for Hayatou and his crew.
“This will come as a disappointment to the Confederation of African Football (CAF), which has been urging its members to vote for Sheikh Salman,” he wrote.
“Infantino went so far as to claim that he would win over half the African vote, after a visit to Cape Town’s Robben Island with Sexwale on Monday.”
Liberia football chief Musa Bility, who was backing Prince Ali, also noted that the CAF leaders did not have the mandate to speak on behalf of the associations in that poll for the FIFA presidency.
“What I’m getting from Africa is that Prince Ali will get the majority and the second-highest number of votes will go to Infantino,” he told the BBC, who then questioned him if Sheikh Salman, the CAF’s preferred candidate, would even figure in the top two.
“No, not from Africa,” Bility thundered.
And, it appears, the rebellion that started in Zurich last year has now come full circle and it’s Hayatou who looks to be in the eye of the storm with the events this week likely to shape the future of the game on the continent.