Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) president Felton Kamambo and his predecessor Philip Chiyangwa have taken their feud to another level, fighting to be the main face of Patrice Motsepe’s campaign for the forthcoming CAF presidential elections.
The two have not seen eye to eye since Kamambo stunning defeated Chiyangwa for the ZIFA presidency in 2018.
They have also clashed at Cosafa where Chiyangwa has been trying to use his influence to push for ZIFA to be sanctioned.
Now the duo are embroiled in a new tiff to be the campaign manager of South African billionaire Motsepe who is going into the elections on 12 March.
The Mamelodi Sundowns owner’s bid for the presidency of the CAF unveiled his manifesto for the most powerful seat in the continental game.
Kamambo was initially the trusted lieutenant backing Motsepe with Chiyangwa rooting for incumbent Ahmad Ahmad.
However, Chiyangwa jumped ship to rally behind Motsepe who has been splashing money across the continent.
To outwit Kamambo, Chiyangwa brought in the irresistible FIFA card on the table to draw Motsepe’s attention when he invited FIFA president Gianni Infantino at the recently held COSAFA Annual General meeting.
“The two are battling to impress Motsepe. Actually what happened is that Kamambo is the one who was running with Motsepe and Chiyangwa was backing Ahmad but after seeing that Ahmad is no longer wanted by FIFA, Chiyangwa is trying to elbow out Kamambo using his status as Cosafa president and also his closeness to FIFA president Infantino,”said a source who attended the Cosafa meeting at the weekend.
“Chiyangwa is a rubble rouser, he knows how to play politics, telling people what they want to hear while Kamambo in as much he is well meaning, he is not gifted in talking and expressing himself. So Chiyangwa used the Cosafa AGM to get the ear of Motsepe using the Infantino invitation, since FIFA has a big say in who wins the CAF elections.”
Kamambo has for the past weeks been travelling across the continent with Motsepe meeting with the electorate and has hardly been in Zimbabwe.
Besides Kamambo and Chiyangwa, Motsepe has the backing of the Cosafa nations as they believe he is the best candidate to lead Caf into a new era of transparency and good governance.
Motsepe is running against heavyweights Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast, Augustin Senghor of Senegal and Mauritania’s Ahmed Yahya for the Caf presidency in the March 12 elective conference in Rabat‚ Morocco. – Zim Morning Post
