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“[…] By now, you likely know that Infantino has his own legal woes in Switzerland where he has been criminally indicted by the state over his role in attempting to replicate, in his home country, the criminality that he has endorsed and encouraged in Africa.
“[…] In Africa, the Fifa integrity test has been brazenly traded for blind, unwavering loyalty by Gianni Infantino, which is how the current CAF president remains in high office despite credible and serious allegations of misconduct and crime during his tenure.
“Drawing from my own experience, everything was fine as long as I mindlessly voted according to Fifa dictates…”
Infantino is flanked by US president Donald Trump and billionaire South African businessman Patrice Motsepe.
Motsepe sparked outrage after telling Trump, during the event, that Africa loves him.
(Copyright AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
The following letter, warning about the ‘machinations of Fifa president Gianni Infantino’, was despatched today to South African billionaire and Confederation of African Football (CAF) presidential candidate Patrice Motsepe from Musa Hassan Bility, a former CAF executive committee member and Liberia Football Association (LFA) president:
Congratulations for receiving the endorsement of SAFA (South Africa Football Association) in order to be able to present your own papers to the Confederation of African Football (CAF), seeking to be elected to its presidency during the March 2021 elective congress in Morocco.
I believe that you have the qualities needed to transform this organisation—one that has laboured under the weight of ineptitude, borderline racism, a colonial mindset and the itchy fingers of its successive leaders over decades.
I would like to give you an unsolicited word of caution, however, drawn from my experiences as an FA president and a member of the CAF executive committee (Exco).
Allow me to draw your attention to the fact that you will be seeking to take over at the helm of CAF following the chaotic one-term of an incumbent who dangerously bungled the administration of the organisation, having been given carte blanche to do so by Fifa president Gianni Infantino.
You cannot therefore appear to lend credence to rumours that you come into this race as the favourite and preferred horse of the Fifa president, in effect bearing the ignominious tag of an ‘Infantino marionette’.
By now, you likely know that Infantino has his own legal woes in Switzerland where he has been criminally indicted by the state over his role in attempting to replicate, in his home country, the criminality that he has endorsed and encouraged in Africa.
There is a misconception in Africa, that anyone seeking the CAF presidency must have the express sanction and permission of Fifa and its president. This is in large part due to the fact that candidates have to undergo an ‘integrity test’ by the Fifa Ethics Committee.
In Africa, the Fifa integrity test has been brazenly traded for blind, unwavering loyalty by Gianni Infantino, which is how the current CAF president remains in high office despite credible and serious allegations of misconduct and crime during his tenure.
South Africa billionaire Patrice Motsepe is believed to be Fifa’s preferred choice now for the CAF presidency.
Drawing from my own experience, everything was fine as long as I mindlessly voted according to Fifa dictates.
Needless to say, at the point where I started to question the loss and transfer of several hundred thousand dollars of my then FA’s grants from CAF to a shadowy Polish art gallery, I was a marked man.
By the time I took a stand against the re-colonisation of CAF by Fifa through the infamous ‘hostile takeover’ of August 2019, the personal aide to Infantino had already pulled me aside to warn me that I faced the resuscitation of a dead-rubber ethics case, which was quickly activated by the co-dependent Fifa Ethics Committee and which led to my current 10-year ban.
Your own SAFA president Dr Danny Jordaan similarly attempted to show the independent streak that South Africans are famous for—but he was swatted back into place by the dark forces in CAF, which later led to his humiliating capitulation and appointment as CAF third vice-president.
(Copyright Fifa.com)
Both the current CAF office and Fifa have badly mishandled the commercial prospects of the organisation and its ability to stand on its own two feet.
For instance, at the insistence of Fifa, CAF withdrew from a $1 billion 12-year commercial deal with French agency Lagardere Sports & Entertainment, based on the speculative fiction peddled by Gianni Infantino that Chinese agency Dalian Wanda would acquire these commercial rights at double or triple the rate.
Ditto, Fifa forced all African FAs to sign over their broadcast rights to the Fifa World Cup qualifiers beginning 2019 and running all the way to 2023.
In sum, things at CAF are very bad and individual FAs now almost entirely rely on Fifa grants, a fact that underscores just how beholden their presidents really are to Gianni Infantino.
It is not lost on me that you represent a shift from the status quo, where you would undoubtedly become the first Anglophone, sub-Sahara African to ascend to this seat.
He is the owner of South Africa football club Mamelodi Sundowns FC.
The decks are already stacked against you because voting in CAF is organised along the lines of religion, language and skin colour. From these divisions we have groups like the ‘Muslim brotherhood’ and the ‘Francophone caucus’.
The Anglophones are a deeply divided lot and it would take a miracle and deft political hand to marshal them to your side.
In all, I wish you the very best of luck in this very bold step. You represent the finest of African sons and your tenure at Masandawana speaks for itself.
As the soothsayer bid Julius Caesar to beware the ides of March, I bid you beware the machinations of Gianni Infantino. Yours sincerely.
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Under Havalange, Blatter and Infantino football the world over has been corrupt beyond imagination on and off the field. It will take many years to clean up FIFA and TTFA mess. I don’t hear about FIFA ethics committee any longer. I wish FIFA luck.