Patrice Motsepe lambasts SAFA's handling of COSAFA dispute

Patrice Motsepe lambasts SAFA's handling of COSAFA dispute

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Patrice Motsepe has lambasted the South African Football Association (SAFA) and its President Danny Jordaan for their dispute with the Council of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA).

Speaking at the COSAFA AGM on Friday, Motsepe emphasized that he’s not questioning the merits of the matters SAFA was raising but the handling of the matter publicly, especially through the media. 

SAFA had raised issues around COSAFA hosting its tournaments in the country and approaching the SA government and provinces to host their tournaments without involving the host football association.

"We are all family and part of being family, at times we've got to talk about the difficult things and we've got to talk about the areas where there's a need for improvement," he said.

"That's why I was saying that the way that I read in the papers in newspapers and on media that there's a disagreement between SAFA AND COSAFA, that should never happen. Any disagreement you discuss privately and you resolve it. It's unacceptable."

Motsepe felt that Jordaan, who is also his advisor at CAF, should have handled this matter better and provided leadership.

"I mean Danny Jordaan is not just the president of SAFA, he's my advisor and it should never happen. He should have provided leadership to tell his people, don't go public, you don't do that. It reflects disunity among us," he explained.

"So, I'm discussing it amongst us because there should not be an artificial coming together. I mean you can see when somebody is loyal and committed and is a partner and you can also see when somebody says 'I'm loyal, I'm committed, I'm a partner' but in fact it's not and I know that Danny Jordaan and SAFA is a committed loyal partner."