Tariq Babitseng poised to make history as youngest ever COSAFA boss

Babitseng has been nominated unopposed for the top position and will fill the permanent role that has been vacant since Artur de Almeida e Silva had to step down, due to losing his position as the Angola FA president, as per the COSAFA rules.

Babitseng’s quick rise to regional and continental leadership positions does not come as a surprise, having defeated McLean Letshwiti (75) in 2024, who was a CAF Executive Committee member at the time. 

He will also become the second Motswana to be elected as COSAFA president, following in the footsteps of the inaugural president Ismail Bhamjee, who served from 1992 until 2006.

By virtue of being a zonal union president, you also get to seat in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Executive Committee.

READ: SA football needs Pitso Mosimane - Katlego Mphela

The presidency is one of the three positions in COSAFA that are uncontested, with Alfred Randriamanampisoa nominated unopposed for the vice-presidency and Brenda Kunda from Zambia to retain the Executive Committee seat reserved for women.

Meanwhile, five candidates are contesting for four seats in the executive committee, including SAFA vice-president Linda Zwane, who is looking to become the first South African to be directly elected to the COSAFA Council in the past eight years. 

The other four candidates are Lijane Nthunya of Lesotho, Nqobile Magwizi from Zimbabwe, Robert Shimooshili from Namibia and Peter Simelane of Eswatini – the latter is hoping to return to the regional body’s Exco for a second time.

The elections will be conducted by secret ballot at the elective congress in Harare on 17 May 2025.

Babitseng is expected to continue with the standards of COSAFA being the leading zonal union out of the six under the auspices of CAF, particularly in hosting all six of their tournaments, including important coaching, refereeing, and administrative programmes.