FAZ Proposal To CAF: An Excellent Suggestion Embodying Hypocrisy
By Kennedy Gondwe
For the last few weeks, those that follow African football have been digesting a proposal by Zambia aimed at improving the financial health of the continent’s mother body – the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
I must admit and state here that the proposal is a damn good one. It is a well-thought out suggestion which, sadly, CAF turned down. It was not even subjected to debate during the organization’s 44th general assembly held last Wednesday in Arusha, Tanzania.
Again, I say well done FAZ president Andrew Kamanga – you really channeled your inner Albert Einstein genius when putting together that document!
Alas, it fell short on some technicality CAF should ordinarily have rectified with some guidance to Zambia.
Two issues arose – for the FAZ motion to stand, it required CAF to amend its statutes to admit it as an item on the agenda provided such an item is seconded by two other member countries in writing – which was not the case. CAF relied on its statutes to arrive at this conclusion which was offered by its internal and external legal experts per its general secretary.
FAZ went solo—they neglected to scrutinize CAF statutes to successfully table the motion. They felt hard done by despite the legal opinion offered by the continental motherbody. They wanted the proposal circulated to the CAF general membership so much so that when this wasn’t done, the aggrieved Kamanga directly wrote to CAF president Patrice Motsepe protesting the alleged injustice!
So what’s this contentious proposal all about?
The aim of this proposal was two-fold: to significantly reduce the operational costs of CAF’s executive committee, and to rebalance its make-up so that all six ‘zones’ of the confederation would have equal representation at executive level. This would apply at both CAF and FIFA as Africa has seven seats on the FIFA Council which is the de facto cabinet of president Gianni Infantino. By implementing the FAZ proposal, CAF was to save at least $25 million of the organization’s total costs, according to estimates.
To achieve the first of these objectives, the new-look executive committee of CAF would be composed of 12 executive committee members bringing the total to 13 with the confederation’s president. This would have translated into ten fewer executive committee members than is the case at present. The number of CAF vice-presidents would also have been reduced from five to two. To achieve the second objective, each of the six African regional associations would be given equal status and allotted two seats. COSAFA (Southern Africa) and WAFU (West Africa) currently have five on the ExCo – three more than UNIFFAC (Central Africa) and CECafA (East-central Africa).
Furthermore, each of the six regions would provide one representative to sit on the FIFA Council. UNIFFAC and CECafA have none right now.
According to the BBC, CAF’s latest audited accounts show losses amounting to just under $45m (£37.1m) for 2020-21, a 400% increase on the previous financial year.
At the same time, CAF’s reserves have plummeted by a similar amount as a result, nearly halving to $50m (£41.2m) when they had been $94m (£77.5m) a year earlier.
Good as the proposal may be, I have fundamental problems with the sheer hypocrisy exhibited by Kamanga. Here’s why.
He seems to mourn more at the funeral of a neighbor than his own. He seems to care more about the financial health of CAF when his own financially malnourished FAZ is bleeding profusely from all pores.
Out of curiosity, was there even a FAZ executive meeting that agreed on such a proposal to CAF? If yes, are there minutes to that effect?
Let us face it: FAZ is insolvent, i.e its liabilities exceed its assets, making its going concern uncertain, according to the association’s own auditors – as per the latest financials. Actually, the association’s debt/liabilities stood at K48m as at 31st December, 2021!
“We draw attention to Note 21 of the financial statements which indicated that the Association incurred a total comprehensive loss of K14,688,931 for the year ended 31st December, 2021 and as at that date the Association’s current liabilities exceed its total assets by K8, 999,930 and it had a net negative liquidity gap amounting to K41, 029,275. As stated in Note 21, these events or conditions, along with other matters as set in Note 21, indicate that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the Association’s ability to continue as a going concern. Our opinion is not modified in respect of this matter, ” reads part of the financial report presented at the FAZ annual general meeting in May.
So bad is FAZ’s indebtedness that it has even been failing to pay statutory obligations to pension fund NAPSA and tax authority ZRA. As at 31st December, 2021, FAZ owed ZRA and NAPSA K10.5m and K1.2m respectively.
While CAF has a membership of 54 countries and an executive consisting of 23 members, FAZ has 10 provinces but with an executive of 13 members and has added an extra unconstitutional slot. In short, FAZ has a higher ratio of executive members compared to CAF!
Now with this FAZ indebtedness, go and tell Kamanga to reduce his executive members and see if he will agree. If anything, he has proven that he wants more executive members by even adding an extra albeit unconstitutional and illegitimate member. We haven’t forgotten how in 2017, with Kamanga at the helm, his executive plundered allowances for the hosting of the Under-20 Africa Cup. Folks were so determined to pay themselves even for meetings that never took place!
Kamanga is so concerned with CAF’s finances that he has raised valid questions about where CAF will get money to fund its Africa Super League. Yet if you go to Kamanga today and remind him that last year he promised to introduce VAR in Zambia and ask him where he would get that money, you will most likely be labelled an aggrieved party.
Or if you asked him what the latest is with his pie in the sky called Chipolopolo Bond, his useful idiots and minions will label you bitter. Don’t even make a mistake of finding out how much has so far been raised from the sale of replica jerseys for the home-grown Kopa brand.
Who doesn’t know that this FAZ has previously struggled to pay referees?
Can FAZ tell us the last time they honoured their K5,000 grant to clubs which now have been pegged at K15,000? This is an association that, on its own, can’t even afford to pay senior national team coaches their salaries unless with the aid of the government.
This is the same Kamanga that has failed to offer permanent employment to other national team coaches because FAZ can’t afford to pay them – despite him having promised to use his corporate connections to wean off FAZ from government’s dependence.
Over and above, the fact that CAF gave him so much latitude to sell his idea is something to admire. I can only guess who was leaking his correspondence to the media each time Kamanga engaged CAF.
But in Zambia, FAZ executive members have been threatened with their phones being taken to ZICTA for scanning to ascertain who leaks information to some of us “because our information is too accurate.” What if ZICTA ends up finding porn in those phones?
How can an executive meeting be wasting time to talk about what I write on social media or who I interview on my YouTube channel as a journalist – what pettiness is that?
Can you imagine what would happen to an official in Zambia if his or her proposal to FAZ was turned down and took the route Kamanga has in his fight for justice with CAF? Much worse if such an official complained to the media about such action? Rest assured that such a club or official would be banned for life or slapped with an ambiguous charge of “bringing the name of the game into disrepute” by those FAZ kangaroo courts.
We haven’t forgotten how Kamanga suspended his then fellow executive member Elijah ‘Shenko’ Chileshe for reporting the FAZ general secretary Adrian Kashala to the police for allegedly receiving money into his personal account, money which was meant for Nkhwazi football club. Kamanga argued that Shenko “disregarded the existing complaint procedures within the FAZ statutes”.
Here in Zambia, FAZ has made itself so powerful that it can even take away liberties from private citizens – rights that are enshrined in the Zambian constitution.
Remember that two private citizens – Augustine Mukoka and Simataa Simataa – who are not members of FAZ are currently serving illegal life bans that won’t even allow them to go to football matches all because they expressed football opinions that FAZ didn’t like? Of course those bans are for window dressing because I know these two can watch matches whenever they want to.
While CAF can allow Kamanga to say “ there is something fundamentally wrong with the [CAF] administration” in the media without him being sanctioned, can you imagine what he, Kamanga, would do if a FAZ member labelled his association as such in the media?
Don’t get me wrong.
Again, I say Kamanga’s proposal is damn good but in African football that’s full of patronage, you cannot expect people to vote for a proposal that deprives them of income or certain football privileges without a proper strategy. Can Kamanga himself allow a proposal from a FAZ councillor to forgo his stipend or reduce his bloated executive in a bid to cut costs?
If anything, let’s say Kamanga’s proposal succeeded, chances are high that Zambia wouldn’t even benefit in any way because under his leadership, Zambia has failed to qualify to CAF’s premier competition – the men’s Africa Cup – a record three times.
What’s clear to me is that the real reason CAF may have rejected Kamanga’s proposal is that FIFA has captured CAF. And those in the corridors of power in Zurich want a united Africa ahead of the FIFA elections because it is from this continent they get the highest number of votes.
My appeal to Kamanga though is to first concern himself with removing a speck in his own eye before thinking about the log in friend’s eye.
Credits: Additional information in this write up has been obtained from articles published by Inside World Football and