CAF aspirants court FAM

The campaign for CAF presidency has started gathering momentum as all the four presidential aspirants have knocked on FAM’s door canvassing for support.

The four are South African top outfit Mamelodi Sundowns president Patrice Motsepe, Jacques Anouma from Ivory Coast, president of Senegal Football Association Augustin Senghor, and his Mauritius counterpart Ahmed Yahya, who was named 2017 CAF Football Administrator of the Year.

The election is set for March 12 in Morocco.

Confirming the development, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Walter Nyamilandu, who will vote on behalf of the association, said: “All the aspiring presidents have sent letters soliciting support for their candidature.”

However, the FAM boss said they are yet to decide on who to support until they go through their manifestos.

“The decision on who to vote for will be based on their blueprints so that we can assess on who has good plans that can take African football forward and Malawi in particular.

“We need to be cautious,” he said.

However, Motsepe appears to have engaged an extra gear in his campaign drive, having met a number of associations and the CAF executive committee, including Nyamilandu, a fortnight ago in Egypt to try and sell himself.

South Africa Football Association president Danny Jordan said: “He [Motsepe] met with the executive of CAF and we had 14 presidents present.”

He also said with less than three months before the polls, Motsepe has already visited several African countries and also invited several influential figures to the Sundowns’ 50th anniversary celebrations in Johannesburg recently.

Nyamilandu confirmed in an interview on Thursday meeting Motsepe.

“Indeed he was introduced to us by Danny Jordan in Cairo.

“However, it was very brief and we are yet to hear his plans for African football. So, I cannot comment much apart from saying that he has a good personality,” he said.

 According to KickOff.com, the 58-year-old South African buusiness magnet has been endorsed by some countries, including Zimbabwe, Botswana, Cameroon, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

All four candidates will have to be cleared by Fifa ethics committee to stand.

Ahmad Ahmad was the CAF president until Fifa slapped him with a five-year ban on November 23 after its ethics committee established that he had “breached his duty, offered gifts and other benefits, mismanaged funds and abused his office”.

At the time of his ban, the Malagasy had been endorsed by 46 out of 54 member association, including FAM, for a second term.

He is, however, contesting the ban with the hope of being cleared before the March polls.