SEXWALE'S WITHDRAWAL METHOD: how billionaire Tokyo failed to fly the flag for South Africa (take note, Mr Sports Minister)

Falling short: Tokyo Sexwale with Mbalula Fikile and pals
at the Balon d'Or awards... apparently on the campaign trail

THERE are times when an e-mail drops from a person in authority and you just can't grasp how this bloke actually got the job. When you read the words of somebody who should know better and wonder if he actually knows ANYTHING about his role. Or life in general.

Friday was one of those days. This is, word for word, the extraordinary statement I received from South Africa’s Minister of Sport Fikile Mbalula with regard to Tokyo Sexwale’s aborted bit for the FIFA Presidency on Friday.

“In the aftermath of the election of FIFA President yesterday, we take our hats off to one of our own, Tokyo Sexwale, who fought a good fight and stood head and shoulders with the Titans of world football.  We are deeply encouraged that as a country we have produced capable leadership who have the tenacity, the stature and the capacity to contest leadership roles such as the one for FIFA President.  

“Tokyo Sexwale represented us well, carrying the South African flag high among the nations of the world.  He may not have won the election of FIFA President, but he won the race as a capable leader whose magnanimity will continue to do us proud for generations to come.  He gave us a voice and made us count as a country and as a continent.  We may not have won the FIFA Presidency this time around, but Africa’s moment to lead world football will come.

“Our heartfelt congratulations to Gianni Infantino, the new President of FIFA.  He assumes the mettle at a time world football is desperate for leadership that is able to steer the ship through troubled waters.  We have no doubt that Gianni Infantino is the man for the job, and has the skill, the staying power and the capacity to take FIFA to new heights and restore its dignity.  His humility and track record gives us comfort that world football has entered a new era full of hope and promise for a better tomorrow.”

Read the above, you might think the billionaire Sexwale campaigned like a US Presidential candidate, visited all our African neighbours to thank them for their nominations, and came within a whisker of becoming the most important man in world football.

But of course, he didn’t. Though right up to Thursday night, Tokyo was telling us how brave he was, how he’d battle on despite a lack of support at home and in Africa, that he would DO THE RIGHT THING and test the favour of the 207 voting nations.

But no. Much as he has in the past, when push came to shove for a presidential role, Sexwale ran for the hills, leaving his supporters red-faced and confounded.

Sexwale left it UNTIL HIS FINAL SPEECH to the extraordinary FIFA congress to drop his bombshell. He gave a measured, well-prepared chat, relaxed, almost slouched. He listed his campaign promises - mostly revolving around sponsorship and footballing justice for Africa - before suddenly revealing “My campaign ends here, good luck to the other four candidates.”

It was a bombshell. A last-minute capitulation. Perhaps Sexwale had been hoping for another round of pre-election arrests in Geneva, like the last FIFA presidential election. Or maybe he suddenly realised, even as the would-be emperor faced his footballing jury, that HE HAD NOT CLOTHES.

Whatever the reason, a few hours after promising he would run, Sexwale chickened out.

So no, Mr Razzmatazz, Sexwale DID NOT “fight a good fight”, he DID NOT “stand head and shoulders with the Titans of world football”, he took the coward’s way out and refused to risk that first round of voting.

I guess by then he had realised he might actually poll NO VOTES at all. Mbalula talks of “a capable leader” who will “make us proud for generations to come”. His statement actually reads like the Sports Minister didn’t realise the only African candidate had withdrawn at the last minute, making a mockery of our continent.

I can only imagine Mbalula was trying to justify the trip to the Balon d'Or awards he made with Sexwale a month ago, where he backed Sexwale all the way. Or justify some other hidden motivation to pat Tokyo on the back.

Ultimately, Sexwale DID NOT fly the South African flag. He ripped it down and ran off with it fluttering between his legs. And no, he DID NOT “have the tenacity, the stature and capacity to contest leadership roles”. He WITHDREW BEFORE THE CONTEST.

Like the brave outsider in the 100m sprint against the taller, faster guys at school, you have to get to the start gun and face the ignominy of trailing in 10m adrift. You can't walk away. That's just not right.

Unlike Jerome Champagne - the Frenchman who polled just seven votes in the first round - and Prince Ali of Jordan, Sexwale thus had NO VOTES to offer eventual winner Gianni Infantino in the decisive second round of voting.

There is an assumption Sexwale will be given a major role in Infantino’s regime because the Italian-Swiss candidate visited Robben Island with the former political prisoner last week. But given the horse-trading that went on with Champagne and Prince Ali between the two rounds of voting in Geneva on Friday, it’s far more likely other people, those who actually understand FIFA and fought to the finish, will have moved ahead of Sexwale.

But in the end, we have to hope Sexwale will gain some kind of foothold in the footballing kingdom under Infantino. Africa desperately needs somebody more credible than CAF’s Issa Hayatou, 69, who guided our African brothers to back the humbled Sheikh Salman.

Quite why a billionaire would want a support role in football administration I can’t tell you. He seems very busy buying up mines further north, amid some controversy. And why Infantino would want him after his craven retreat is hard to fathom.

But we live in hope. Perhaps Sexwale, in a position of power, can do something about that lingering 2010 match-fixing scandal, or allow Danny Jordaan and Irvin Khoza to travel beyond our borders in the wake of the FBI investigation in to Jack Warner’s magically disappearing $10m (R160m) “African Diaspora Fund”.

He could also sort out the R350m FIFA World Cup legacy cash, which our grass-roots so desperately needs. We might hope for somebody high up in the world body to provide a more democratic, better-run African Federation, where African Champions League opponents turn up on time.

Better yet, why not run for CAF president Mr Sexwale? After Polokwane 2007 and Geneva 2016, you may actually get to reach the voting phase. Then Mbalula will, presumably, wheel out the red carpet.

THE BLAME GAME: Tokyo Sexwale's FIFA presidential bid is dead in the water, but WHO is at fault?

Setting a president: Blatter and Sexwale

TRY as I might, I can find no South African pride in the tale of Tokyo Sexwale's failed FIFA presidential bid. What should have been a patriotic cause worth singing about has become an excruciating embarrassment for our nation and our game.

In a world where money talks, the billionaire’s reputation and considerable funds were unable to persuade Issa Hayatou and Confederation of African Football to vote for the only African candidate.

But then, did anyone ever expect CAF to support a South African? They weren't even all that positive about the 2010 World Cup if the voter records are to be believed.

Imprisoned with Nelson Mandela - they played football together on Robben Island - Sexwale rose quickly in post-1994 South Africa. He popped in and out of government a couple of times at cabinet level and was embroiled in a few shenanigans around the time of then-president Thabo Mbeki’s demise.

I won’t go in to that. Nor is it worth debating his rise to billionaire status with profitable business dealings in Guinea, his acrimonious divorce, his trust funds or his connections with Sepp Blatter, the man FIFA are trying so hard to write out of their history.

We’ll let all that slide. Right from the start of Sexwale’s bid, there was a feeling his surname was his strongest point in a field which included an exotic blend of Champagne, Infantino, Salman and Bility.

The problem is simple. Tokyo Sexwale has NEVER been a football man. Sure, there were the island kickabouts, but I can find little trace of his boot-prints in South African football history. A sponsorship here, a statement against racism there.

Blatter, typically clumsy on football racism, used Sexwale shamelessly in an attempt to alter his image as an old, corrupt Swiss conservative.

It worked too. Sexwale’s name and reputation did FIFA no harm on the anti-racism front. They even sent Sexwale to Israel to calm the Palestinian persecution on the football field.

But all this is mere window-dressing. Fiddling around on the edge of the man.

The truth is, Sexwale has proven to be a ruthless businessman and politician. His decision to bid for FIFA leadership was taken in that spirit.

With no understanding of footballing politics in Africa, Tokyo’s spokesman went all xenophobic on the African football fixer Mamadou Gaye and though Namibia and Zimbabwe backed his bid - they were two of the rapidly disappearing five nominees - both neighbouring national Football Associations saw fit to ask why Sexwale was ignoring the locals in his grand parade to footballing omnipotence.

The classic turnabout was seen most clearly in Switzerland three weeks ago, when Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula and the expensive football presenter Robert Marawa accompanied Sexwale to the Ballon D’Or presentation.

Though it was Lucas Radebe (a far better South African FIFA presidential candidate in my view) who did the talking on stage, it was Mbalula who made it clear he was backing Sexwale, just as Dominic Chimhavi and the non-travelling con-conspirator Danny Jordaan had done on SAFA’s behalf a week before.

But behind the scenes, the charade was slowly falling apart. Chimhavi, the SAFA communications director, came out publicly with a Sexwale rebuke along the lines of “he is not taking our advice”  and accusing Tokyo of “a lacklustre campaign”.

I’ve discussed this seminal moment in Sexwale’s campaign with Chimhavi. Why was it not done in private? Why the big disrespect? Why did Dominic himself change his Twitter name from “Sexwale for President” back to his old name?

What is clear is this: somewhere along the line, Sexwale lost sight of his goal. Instead of being the first proud African to take on the giants of football, he was cruising around talking to the elite, ignoring his roots.

But when the German FA, early Sexwale supporters, decided to support Infantino, the writing was on the wall.

Sexwale left for Rwanda on Friday to join the CAF high-ups living it up at CHAN in Kigali. Like Bafana Bafana, he wasn’t qualified for that particular situation.

Hayatou and CAF dismissed Sexwale out of hand. They went for Sheikh Salman. Those 55 priceless African votes would go to an Asian.

On the social networks, South Africans railed against Hayatou and CAF, on the very day one of our four PSL representatives Ajax Cape Town had back out of the Confederations Cup.

I have written about the bias against South Africa by the Francophile northern nations. Have a squint at this http://neal-collins.blogspot.co.za/2013/04/the-shocking-truth-about-caf-danny.html It keys in neatly with the Arabic stronghold, where slavery is permitted but South Africans aren’t.

But on this particular subject, what did we expect? Sexwale hardly left with a glowing endorsement from the ANC or SAFA. Nobody came out with last minute backing, only a few vague whispers about “making deals” to keep him in the race.

We castigate Hayatou for being nearly 70 and in charge of African football since 1988, but Irvin Khoza, the man who REALLY runs South African football, is 68 and has been in charge of our declining PSL since 1992.

These men are set in their ways. Their decisions, often dictated by finance rather than football, cannot be disputed. Ask Musa Bility about his still-born campaign.

Without genuine, whole-hearted backing from South Africa, Sexwale’s millions weren’t going to help. CAF hardly need an excuse to keep those from the tip of Africa out of power.

But rather than blaming Hayatou and CAF for this embarrassment - if Sexwale doesn’t withdraw as CAF said he had, he may end up with no votes at all - we should look long and hard at how this all started.

SAFA and the ANC saw Sexwale as the man who could lift the cloud of suspicion hanging over our nation: The 2010 match-fixing (Ace Kika, banned for 6 years, didn’t act alone) and the $10m Africa Diaspora fund (which goes right to the top of South Africa’s power structure) used to leverage votes for hosting World Cup 2010.

But when the going got tough, we turned our back on our own man. In public and behind the scenes. Sexwale supporters disappeared like rats from a sinking ship.

Before we attack CAF, we should look at our own structures. Our own decisions. If Sexwale’s abortive bid for FIFA president encourages change at SAFA, it will have done some good. Otherwise, considerable time and money have been utterly wasted on a campaign that was NEVER going to succeed.

SEXWALE FOR PRESIDENT! The man we call Tokyo is ready to give old friend Blatter the chop at FIFA

JUST GOOD FRIENDS: Sepp Blatter and Tokyo Sexwale

MOSIMA GABRIEL SEXWALE. They call him Tokyo because he loved karate as a kid. And everyone's asking WHO is this reclusive South African millionaire thrust back in to the spotlight by his willingness to stand for FIFA president on February 26?

What was it he said yesterday? "The brand of FIFA is seriously damaged following various scandals. It needs to be restored."

Brave sentiments. Now 62, Sexwale has never been involved in professional football as a player or administrator, but that shouldn’t rule him out of contention against a diverse list of people who have thrown their names into the hat to replace the currently suspended Sepp Blatter.

Described by the Guardian in the UK as “ an apartheid-era political prisoner turned multimillionaire mining tycoon”, Tokyo is listed only as FIFA’s “anti-racism” advisor. His latest mission was to sort out the "normalisation" of football in Palestine and Israel... he has played no public part in footballing or sporting administration in South Africa.

Sexwale (it’s NOT pronounced Sex Whale, for Westerners who can’t click it’s more like Sesh Waa Lay) didn’t have much time for sport as a young man, he was too busy (like many of his generation) fighting South Africa’s inhuman political philosophy Apartheid (pronounced Aparthate).

He’s a struggle hero in his home country, which comes with its own unique pressures. Most famously of all, he was jailed on Robben Island alongside the father of the nation, Nelson Mandela. When Aparthate fell in 1994, Tokyo became the first democratic Premier of Gauteng, the province which grew out of the old Transvaal, incorporating the huge metropolis of Johannesburg and Pretoria, the financial hub of the mining nation.

SMILE PLEASE: Blatter, Sexwale and Valcke with
Nelson Mandela during the World Cup in 2010

Politically, Sexwale was once headed for the presidency, but his attempts to unseat South Africa’s second democratic president Thabo Mbeki failed as Jacob Zuma slipped in to the hot-seat after the ANC’s Polokwane conference in 2007.

From 2009 to 2013, Tokyo was Minister of Human Settlements but his time in the ruling African National Congress came to an end when he chose once more to invest his energy in to mining rather than politics - an astute decision given the corruption allegations which have raged around Zuma’s reign

Sexwale was born in Orlando West, the son of a clerk at a local hospital. He left Orlando West High in 1973, just four years short of the Soweto Uprising which, infamously, saw school children shot by a minority Apartheid government still clinging to power.

A follower of Steve Biko’s black consciousness movement, he was a leader in the South African Student Movement before fleeing the country as so many struggle exiles did, to join Umkhonto we Sizwe, (“Spear of the Nation”) to fight the white minority government. He completed a Certificate in Business Studies during his time in Swaziland, a small independent nation almost entirely surrounded by South Africa.

He also spent time in the old Soviet Union, training with their military, specialising in engineering. But when Sexwale returned to South Africa, he was arrested and imprisoned for 18 years for terrorism and conspiracy to overthrow the National Party government.

During his 13 years on Robben Island - the “Alcatraz” off Cape Town which was reserved for freedom fighters - he studied for a B Com degree before his release in 1990 under the Groote Schuur Agreement. He is recognised as an expert in the African mining industry, particularly in the diamond sector.

Tokyo struck up a relationship with local para-legal Judy van Vuuren while he was behind bars - they married soon after he was released. The African National Congress beckoned and Sexwale took over the PWV province, previously Transvaal, now Gauteng, after the elections. In 1998 he left politics to forge a career as a businessman but he was drawn back when Mbeki was replaced by Zuma… only to leave again. That he is successful is beyond doubt. He is President of South Africa’s Russian and Japanese business forums and is Honorary Consul General of Finland.

But his football connections are marked mainly by a strong relationship with the now disgraced Sepp Blatter. Sexwale, through the build-up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, was often pictured with Blatter and his side-kick Jerome Valcke, he was the hand-holder, the smiling face of Africa's first EVER World Cup.

Though Danny Jordaan, the SAFA president who now also doubles as the ANC’s Mayor of Port Elizabeth, has backed him for the FIFA job, neither have addressed the controversies which stir in the background. From his attempts to unseat Mbeki to his involvement in business deals in the north of the continent to his public rift with wife Judy, Sexwale is not quite the squeaky clean leader required by FIFA post-Blatter.

What was it Jordaan said when "approving" Sexwale's candidacy yesterday? "We've endorsed him unanimously because we are comfortable Tokyo's history, credibility, life experience will help resurrect the essential sport of the African continent, the ONLY sport played by all 54 nations on our continent"

Personally, I'd have gone for former Leeds United and Bafana Bafana icon Lucas Radebe if SAFA are going to back somebody for a top football job without an experience at SAFA. Radebe is squeaky-clean, he owns no $70m islands, he does not do business with questionable regimes up north.

Still, Tokyo's rivals for the hottest seat in football are hardly glowing paragons of virtue. Michel Platini, the former France midfielder, has the footballing credentials but is tainted by payments made to him by Blatter.

Another Frenchman, Jérôme Champagne, is former deputy general secretary of FIFA who has long dabbled in footballing politics while Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al-Hussein is known only for his run against Blatter in May. A fourth candidate, David Nakhid, a former Trinidad & Tobago midfielder, is marked by his connections to Jack Warner’s controversial CONCACAF administration.

Sexwale says: "Issa Hayatou (the life-long CAF president and caretaker boss at FIFA until Blatter is unsuspended) has invited me to come to Cairo on October 28. I will put forward my proposals for reforms in FIFA. The mantle of president is heavy."

Still, with Liberia’s Musa Bility out of the running, Sexwale is sure to pull most, if not all, of Africa’s 54 votes, not bad in an electorate of 209.

And the German FA have gone public with their support. Platini is discredited and currently suspended, leaving many European nations looking for a mast to nail their colours too. Bahrain's Sheikh Salman Bing Al-Khalifa may enter the race too, the Asia Football Confederation president may attract European votes too despite human rights issues.

But Sexwale was in jail with Madiba. He has a great name. He's so rich, corruption may not be worth the bother. Why not Sexwale?

South African football is in crisis, and here's why (includes video)

ONCE A PIRATE: Irvin Khoza, PSL chairman

DISKI Mzanzi is in crisis. South African football faces falling attendances, a dying transfer market, a merry-go-round of FOURTEEN coaching changes in a 16-team league.


We have barely recovered from an AFCON which saw Bafana garne JUST A SINGLE POINT when both of our African Champions League "giants" - leaders Kaizer Chiefs and current PSL champions Mamelodi Sundowns - went crashing out in the first round.


There were no refereeing blunders, there was no intimidation, just humiliation. Failure.



This morning on the South African 24-hour news channel ANN7 (205 on your DSTV bouquet) I appeared on Peter van Onselen's "Phuka" morning show in an attempt to get across the true depth of the crisis facing our game. Though my football writing colleagues will rail against it and Twitter will issue threats, it's only the truth.



Denigrating South African football is not my agenda. Improvement, change, even revolution is needed. Just like Issa Hayatou, PSL chairman Irvin Khoza, the man who took over Orlando Pirates in the early 1990s, is in his late 60s and has been in charge of the game in this country for over 20 years.


And quite apart from the problems highlighted above, Khoza runs a club which closed its academy due to age cheating, he has refused to promote Eric Tinkler from his caretaker role despite unprecedented success and though his club pulls in MILLIONS in sponsorship, he refuses to spend money on his team.

He can't even run his club properly, let alone the PSL. And I am reliably informed it was Khoza who dictated the new conditions for agents in this country after FIFA's recommended treatment for "intermediaries"... though the legislation promised on April 1 has failed to materialise.


This is not an anti-Khoza rant, just a polite request for change. For truth. Though the South African media big guns - particularly Robert Marawa, Thomas Mlambo and the excitable Sunday Times "sports editor" BBK - will deny it, our game is not healthy.


As I say in the video below, our clubs don't scout for players, the rely on agents. Though there is a reputed R14,000-a-month minumum wage in the PSL, many youngsters are on a fraction of that. I know of one who has played 10 first team games this season and is on R2,000 a month. Another who played for Bafana at COSAFA and is on R6000... about the level of a supermarket shelf stacker.


From the bottom to the top - where Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates join billionaire Patrice Motsepe's Sundowns as the only clubs in the financial comfort zone - were are watching our game fall apart. There is no investment, no marketing, no sign of grass roots growth from Danny Jordaan's infamous FIFA Legacy Fund, a R500m post-World Cup 2010 bonus.


I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but it would be handy if a few people opened their eyes to the truth. Dr Khoza himself has acknowledged the influence of agents on our national head coaches; we have done NOTHING to establish who was involved in the pre-World Cup match-fixing scandal... SAFA won't even discuss their two most recent promises of a Technical Director and a statue for the murdered captain Senzo Meyiwa.



I don't make these things up. I don't enjoy endless repetition of the negative. But SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.

WAS THE AFCON 2015 DRAW FIXED? Hosts Equatorial Guinea couldn't be any luckier. South Africa get the Group of Death. STATISTICALLY IMPROBABLE!

SUPER EAGLES: Nigeria after 2013 triumph in SA
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I SPENT yesterday going through the AFCON 2015 draw, held amid much hoopla in Malaba on December 3. Going on statistics alone, looking at how the balls came out of the pots, I can only conclude the whole thing was FIXED.

Look, I know Equatorial Guinea came to the rescue when Morocco insisted they could not host the tournament due to the Ebola outbreak – though the Moroccans did successfully hold the World Club Cup this month.

So the emergency hosts deserve some credit, despite being suspended for fielding ineligible players during qualifying. Thing is, we all know Equatorial Guinea is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, with a huge oil-driven economy which utterly fails to look after the ordinary folk.

Some statistical back up: Equatorial Guinea is the richest nation per capita in Africa since oil was “discovered” in 1995, but less than half of the population has access to clean drinking water and 20% of their children die before reaching five.

That’s why this tiny nation was able to step in and host the event at such short notice. If Africa's longest-serving leader President Theodoro Obiang, who has ruled for 35 years (that’s longer than Robert Mugabe), wants something, he gets it. Whether his people are concerned about contagious diseases or not.

When he took power in 1979 he had Macias Nguema, the previous president, executed. And with a personal fortune of $600m thanks to contributions from the likes of petro-giant Exxon, it was hardly surprising CAF decided to lift the nation’s suspension and move AFCON to his fiefdom, where Obiang has survived 12 coup attempts.

But the nation capable of fielding a team of players ALL born in foreign nations surely have enough advantages at AFCON when it kicks off on January 15. They should have been ready to hold a fair draw, having not had to play qualifiers due to suspension.

Even the most cursory analysis of how the cookie crumbled suggests collusion. And when you factor in the current FIFA rankings and add them up, the inequality of the “random” draw is staggering. STATISTICALLY IMPROBABLE is the best word I can think of.

My interest here is this: while Equatorial Guinea were enjoying all the luck of the draw, South Africa – after topping Group A in qualifying and putting out the reigning champions Nigeria – were handed all the BAD LUCK in the world, having refused to risk hosting the tournament themselves.

Now that can’t be just luck. The Francophile nations and CAF president Issa Hayatou resent us enough already but look at those pots: in every instance, Equatorial Guinea got the weakest team, South Africa the toughest.

Sure, our hosts occupy a nation two thousand square kilometres smaller than Lesotho, but they don’t deserve a crooked helping hand from Hayatou and his cohorts, so firmly entrenched at CAF. Despite his nation being suspended and in footballing chaos at times, the 68-year-old Cameroonian has been in charge of African football since 1988, before Nelson Mandela was released. 26 years is a helluva long time in football, just ask Sepp Blatter.

Now look at those seeding “pots”. As hosts, Equatorial Guinea were put in Pot 1 for the top-seeded teams. But that’s misleading. Algeria (or Little France as they are now known, with most stars born and coached in France) are the top side in Africa right now, but found themselves in Pot 2. Ghana were the ones to avoid in Pot 1.

And yes, South Africa got Ghana, rather than the less intimidating 2012 champions Zambia or Burkina Faso. For some inexplicable reason, Burkina Faso found themselves in the same group as the hosts, despite being in the same pot.

In Pot 2, South Africa’s Group C were lumbered with the team everyone was hoping to avoid, Algeria while Group A got NONE of those dangerous nations like Ivory Coast, Mali or Tunisia.

Instead, Equatorial Guinea got Gabon from South Africa’s Pot 3 while unbeaten Bafana Bafana were landed with the most dangerous nation in Pot 4, Senegal.

Confused? We all were. Suffice to say Equatorial Guinea’s STRONGEST opponents are Congo, ranked 62 in the world by FIFA right now. South Africa’s WEAKEST opponents are Senegal, ranked 41 in the world and responsible for the qualifying failure of seven-time winners Egypt in qualifying.

Statistically improbable. That’s the phrase we’ll have to use. It would have been IMPOSSIBLE for Equatorial Guinea to have had an easier group. South Africa’s GROUP OF DEATH could not have been any harder.

Now I remember during the World Cup in 2010 when Argentina’s legendary Diego Maradona alleged that “warmed balls” were used in some draws to ensure the big bosses got the groups and fixtures they wanted. I always wondered if it was possible to conjure up a fixed draw in the glare of the television cameras. I can think of no other explanation for the utter improbability of this particular set of groupings.

I warned before the draw that Bafana Bafana, disliked both on and off the field in the north of the continent, would get the thin end of the wedge. Below you can see just how thin that wedge is.

By adding the four FIFA rankings of each of the nations in each group, it’s possible to see just how strong they are. The higher the score, the easier the group. The totals are self-evident.  

Equatorial Guinea’s Group A totals 325. That’s TWICE as much as the Group of Death. And way more than Group B or Group D. See for yourself:

GROUP A
Equatorial Guinea 125
Burkina Faso 71
Gabon 67
Congo 62

TOTAL: 325

GROUP B
Zambia 78
Tunisia 31
Cape Verde 33
DR Congo 60

TOTAL: 202

GROUP C
Ghana 35
Algeria 15
South Africa 57
Senegal 41

TOTAL: 148

GROUP D
Ivory Coast 25
Mali 58
Cameroon 40
Guinea 55

TOTAL: 178

I’ve seen many draws in my life-time. And not just in football. Often the home team or the favoured association find themselves in a good position. But this draw is a step too far for me. Clearly, something is amiss.

Still, having been quoted R145,000 to join Bafana for all their games in Equatorial Guinea in January, it’s unlikely I’ll be remonstrating personally with Presidents Obiang or Hayatou. Just as well I guess.

Good luck Shakes Mashaba. As I said in my last entry, you may need it.

http://peruserpaid.com/?ref=131468

The shocking truth about CAF: Danny Jordaan on how the French-speaking nations have left South Africa powerless

The man who SHOULD run CAF: Danny Jordaan and Nelson Mandela

DANNY JORDAAN returned home from his abject electoral defeat in Morocco last month deeply disturbed by what he saw at the Confederation of African Football elections in Marrakesh – and bitterly regretting he represents a nation labelled “English-speaking”.

Jordaan, shockingly beaten to a four-year term on the CAF executive by the mysterious Madagascar FA President known only as Ahmad, has every reason to feel aggrieved.

Jordaan is a former SAFA CEO who successfully organised Africa’s first World Cup in South Africa in 2010. He is close to FIFA president Sepp Blatter and has a “great working relationship” with spokesman Jerome Valcke.

Born in Port Elizabeth, he has a strong record as an anti-apartheid activist who was banned and harried by the Apartheid regime. He also played provincial cricket and football before moving in to administration where he led the Cape Town Olympic bid before moving in to SAFA’s highest ranks.

And this bloke Ahmad? FIFA admit they have “no further information” about the man. Not even his full name. There is simply nothing about the Madagascar FA he runs ANYWHERE. But I can tell you that, under his guidance, Madgascar are currently 188^th in the FIFA world rankings, their lowest ever, after losing to Equatorial Guinea in the 2014 World Cup preliminary qualifiers. They are also 47^th out of the 54 African nations, just behind Swaziland. Hardly a powerhouse, hardly a great recommendation for Ahmad.

Danny and I go back quite a way. He’s told me some of his apartheid stories and any suggestion he is not the perfect man to run CAF is laughable. I launched in with: Defeat against Madagascar?! He shrugged: “We had an agreement the position on the CAF executive wouldn’t go to one of the islands, but it did. COSAFA is mostly English and Portuguese speaking but now we have two French speaking representatives.

"When I got to Marrakesh, Michael Platini (the famous Frenchman who covets Blatter’s hot seat as head of FIFA) had been there two days. He was there for another day after I left.

“I don’t think you must personalise it. Any South African would be seen as a threat to the President. People know when they come to South Africa they will have the environment and infrastructure to play under the best conditions.

“They appreciate that. But it is the other interests, the ones which cannot be balanced with the real interests of football.

“In the north, it’s worse. The French dominate. It sets a precedent. It’s not fair representation. It’s a question of leadership. It doesn’t make sense. These are issues we have to discuss.

The Francophone nations: from Wikimedia.org

“When you look at Southern Africa, the election outcome goes against the agreement we had. It is only in the interests of those who want to pursue a particular path for football in Africa and at FIFA. Those are things I don’t want to talk about.

“South Africa’s role is appreciated, we mustn’t think we’re not wanted on the continent. We must simply understand it’s all about the next CAF president, the next FIFA president.“

“Platini had it all wrapped up. He stands for the French-speaking nations, that is his powerbase. Now 83 percent of the CAF executive is Francophone.

“Just ask Nigeria. Their guy lost to Moucharafou Anjorin from Benin who had just come out of jail after six months. But he’s loyal to Issa Hayatou and the “big five” French speaking nations in CAF.”

It was Anjorin who lashed out at English FA Chairman David Bernstein at the 2011 FIFA elective congress in Zurich when the English asked for a postponement before Blatter’s re-election.

Anjorin was jailed for several months last year amid allegations of “financial impropriety over missing sponsorship funds” but had no problem getting onto the CAF executive ahead of Nigeria, crowned the 

African Cup of Nations champions in South Africa a month before.

Then there’s war-torn Mali's Amadou Diakite, whose ban from "all football activities" ended on October 20th 2012. He bounced back with an incredible 35 out of a possible 54 votes to take his four-year term on the executive.

Jordaan admits: “All English-speaking candidates lost, Platini and Hayatou saw to that. I have to look beyond Hayatou – I think some were worried if I got on the excutive, I might be the next president, and I’m not French!

“I spoke to David Dein from England. The truth is the English, who invented the game and run the best-watched league in the world, now have NO SAY AT ALL over what happens in football.

“Platini is ensuring the influence of the English-speaking nations is non-existent. And South Africa is paying the price for that.

“The only way out of it I can see is for the Commonwealth to become a footballing body. To act as a voting bloc at FIFA. Perhaps then our voice will be heard. That would united the English-speaking nations. But right now the Commonwealth countries do not deal with football and the sport doesn’t feature in the Commonwealth Games.

“CAF elections, sadly, have nothing to do with the good of football. They are for power and money. That is the truth.

"Morocco is history now. But change is coming in FIFA and CAF, I'm confident that we will have a excuitive member in CAF by 2015."

South Africa’s only representative at CAF executive level is former school teacher and SAFA official Molefi Oliphant, a co-opted member who rarely raises his head above the parapet.

Jordaan is not alone in his discontent, Safa executive member Buti Lerefolo, in Marrakesh as an observer, said: “It was not only South Africa, but Nigeria was also marginalised. We were sabotaged. Africa did not vote for us and all we could hear were whispers that South Africa has a lot of money.”

A dossier suggesting South Africa post-World Cup corruption re-emerged in Morocco and after initially coming out in support of their man, SAFA president Kirsten Nematandani issued a brown-nosed statement saying: “We have no doubt they will take our confederation to new heights and we look forward to working with the Caf executive committee to improve the sport on the continent.

"We are grateful for the support shown by our sister federations for SA's candidate."

Confused? So am I. Jordaan says: “The Arabic countries have too much power, the Francophile nations hold sway. Something has to be done.

“Our job is to help develop the game, the under 15, the referees, the facilities. That’s where my heart lies. We have to get away from these political discussions.

“The challenges are backing Bafana, backing the game in Africa. We must distinguish between what is real and what is done for political purposes.

“To have documents that are faceless and nameless, designed to smear people? That must stop. Let’s go face-to-face. Give reasons, this dossier – it’s an insult to call it that – is not right. For the good of this country, we don’t want the world to sit back and shake their heads.

“We must retain our integrity. We have global support.”

A shorter version of this story will appear as my Neal and Pray story in www.thenewage.co.za on Tuesday.