South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan says Mamelodi Sundowns owner Patrice Motsepe understands he will have to step away from his ownership role at the club if he is elected as the Confederation of African Football (Caf) president in next year’s election.
Jordaan, along with Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa, on Monday announced that the Sundowns president would stand in the elections for the position of president at Africa’s football governing body.
However, should he be elected he will have to step away from the Brazilians despite Caf’s constitution not having a provision for a club owner to be conflicted as president of the organisation.
The Safa rules are a lot clearer, though, and Jordaan says Motsepe understands what will need to happen to avoid potential conflict of interest that will arise when a club owner is also an association president.
'In the Safa constitution‚ section 36.7‚ no club owner can be a Safa president for obvious conflict-of-interest reasons. Caf doesn’t have that provision‚ but from a governance and not constitutional point of view. You have to step down from a governance standpoint because you can’t sit there and talk of all African federations and club competitions when you have an interest. I think he understands‚'Jordaan said.
'Gianni Infantino [Fifa president] wasn’t an association president‚ nor was Sepp Blatter‚ nor was Issa Hayatou and Joao Havelange. It’s not a requirement that you be a national association president in order to be a continental and global president. We also don’t want any compromise or breach on ethics on governance in football.'
Motsepe will be running against incumbent president Ahmad Ahmad‚ who is from Madagascar. Jordaan is a Caf vice-president while Amaju Pinnick of Nigeria‚ along with Botswana and Sierra Leone, have also endorsed Motsepe as president.
Jordaan‚ who will be travelling to Morocco on 17 November‚ said he has made Ahmad aware that Motsepe was Safa’s preferred candidate.
'Ahmad Ahmad is a candidate and what will happen in the future is not known. We have clearly spelt out as to why we believe Patrice must be a candidate in this election. I tried to call Ahmad last night [Sunday] because I thought it was fair and I’m serving as his vice-president. It’s fair that I must inform him before I come to a press conference‚' Jordaan said.
'I had to text him because there are no WhatsApp calls in Cairo. The text was saying that we’ve nominated Patrice as president and that was Safa’s decision. He said noted‚ so he is aware that we’re fielding a candidate.'
