The Confederation of African Football – CAF – is sparring with shadows in the dark.

With elections on the horizon and horse trading taking the usual centre stage, real or imaginary foes appear to have sent cold shivers down the spine of powers that be, so much so that a harmless convention of FA presidents of the Cosafa region in Harare at the invite of Philip Chiyangwa is seen as an imminent threat to the incumbency.

By inviting his peers to his native Zimbabwe to coincide with his birthday on the 24th of February the Cosafa honcho has upset the apple cart and invoked the wrath of no less than CAF president Issa Hayatou himself, albeit via a strongly worded letter through Secretary General Hicham El Amrani.

NO MORAL AUTHORITY

The letter, dispatched from CAF headquarters in Cairo and dated 11 February, acknowledges the undisputed right of Mr Chiyangwa to convene a meeting of presidents within the Cosafa region but goes on to insist that any representation outside the Cosafa orbit would be a direct contravention of CAF statutes and ” an attempt to destabilize CAF.”

Quoting article 2.3 of the statutes, the letter reads;

“Any person or organisation involved in football in Africa has to respect at all times and unreservedly the principles of ethics of fairplay enacted by CAF, the principles of integrity and sportsmanship as well as the statutes, regulations, decisions and directives of CAF and FIFA.

It goes on to highlight the obligations of zonal unions in articles 14.2, 14.2 c and 14.2 d that state:

Each zonal union shall;

a) Fully comply with the statutes, regulations, directives and decisions of CAF and FIFA.
b) Work in close collaboration with CAF in all spheres in order to attain the objectives of the Confederation.
In essence, Philip Chiyangwa is dissuaded from conducting any activities deemed contrary to CAF obligations and requirements and further urged, nay ordered, to furnish more details of his planned meeting in Harare.

STIFFLED VOICES

By  endorsing  Madagascar FA President  Ahmad Ahmad for the CAF presidency elections to be held March 16th 2017 in Addis Ababa, Chiyangwa and by extension Cosafa have ruffled feathers and thrust themselves into the deep blue, where sharks lie in wait to get even with dissenting voices. The looming meeting has noticeably shaken the Confederation top brass to the core.

If CAF’s well known modus operandi is anything to go by, unspecified sanctions cannot be ruled out. They are a real possibility.But at this point the kettle is too hot and Cosafa seem to shout “bring em on “ready for the ding dong battle.