After a personal contribution of more than R250 million and more, what's next for Patrice Motsepe at CAF?

Motsepe who has saved the organization an amount of close to R60 million by returning all personal bonuses due to him back to the organization and he has chosen to talk more about the capable leaders to succeed him at CAF rather than revealing his future plans. 

Motsepe also saves CAF from paying for his traveling and accommodation, as he uses his private jet to attend meetings and events and pays for his accommodation.

Motsepe was elected unopposed as CAF President in 2021, after all the candidates who were set to go against him withdrew from the race and supported him.

Senegalese FA President Augustin Senghor, Mauritanian FA President Mohamed Yahya, Djibouti FA President Souleiman Waberi, and veteran football administrator from Côte d'Ivoire Jacques Anouma all dropped their bids in favour of Motsepe.

Senghor, Yahya, and Waberi all became Vice-Presidents and Anouma was appointed as one of Motsepe’s advisors at CAF after the elections.

The other CAF Vice-Presidents are Seydou Mbobo-Njoya (Cameroon) and Kanizat Ibrahim (Comoros).

During the recent 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Côte d'Ivoire, regarded as the most successful AFCON tournament commercially and football-wise in the modern game, Motsepe was asked twice about standing again next year when election time comes but he didn’t give a conclusive answer.

Instead, the South African mining mogul and philanthropist pointed to capable leaders in African football.

“Part of the duty I have as President of CAF is to make sure that there's leadership that can take over from me immediately. Because we always assume that the President is gonna step down when his term comes to an end. 

"The President gets knocked over by a bus, so there should be capable leadership, excellent and some even better than me who can take over. I'm proud I've got my First Vice-President from Senegal, who is world-class, second Vice-President from Mauritania....world-class, third Vice-President from Djibouti...world-class, fourth Vice-President from Cameroon, also world-class and fifth Vice-President from Comoros, madame Kanizat, who is also world-class.

"Part of the duty is that the leader is not only judged by the performance whilst you're president but also judged by the world-class succession plan he has in place. So that, when he steps down or he's not available, the good work that we've done together as a collective is recognized," responded Motsepe when he was asked if he would be standing again in the 2025 CAF elective congress. 

Motsepe and his current leadership at CAF, came during a very difficult period for football in the continent, when the organization was in financial doldrums, there was also a widespread TV blackout of the continental body's major competitions including the flagship AFCON & WAFCON tournaments, CAF inter-club competitions and junior competitions.

This was after his predecessor Ahmad Ahmad from Madagascar and his leadership unilaterally decided to cancel a lucrative 12 year $1billion sports rights contract, CAF had with French company Lagardere Sports. 

The current CAF leadership have since entered into an agreement to repay a total amount of R957 million to Lagardere as an out-of-court settlement after the French company brought a legal challenge against this cancellation.

In the three years that the current leadership has been in office, they have managed to improve the financial state of CAF and also increase prize money in all the competitions, and signed multi-million dollar TV deals, which have seen the recent CAF tournament watched by close to two billion people around the world. 

As the CAF President, Motsepe is also entitled to monthly, annual allowances, and tournament allowances from the continental body but he has paid this money back to the organization.

In the 36 months he's been in office, Motsepe was entitled to R34,5 million in monthly allowances, a total of R17,3 million in annual bonuses, about R3,5 million in tournament bonuses, and R4,5 million in annual bonuses as FIFA Vice-President and Council member. All these monies, he has paid back to CAF for the advancement of women's football and the CAF staff have also benefitted from his annual FIFA bonuses.

Through his family's Motsepe Foundation, the 62-year-old also donated R192 million towards the establishment of the annual CAF Schools tournament, bringing his overall personal contribution to CAF to about R252 million. 

With all these benefits for African football and continued investments by sponsors, the former Mamelodi Sundowns President revealed that there have also been questions from current and potential sponsors. 

"I have heard some sponsors who said to me, yes we want to be involved with CAF but we are worried that when you leave, a lot of the work that has been done and the Secretary-General (Veron Mosengo-Omba) that you have employed and the good work that has been done is going to be disrupted. 

"But it's incorrect, the good work that we have done together will become even better. I'm absolutely confident about the leadership issue. I think we should all be proud of the work that has been done so far. I can assure you that the excellent work will continue for many years to come, even when I'm not there, " concluded Motsepe when answering the question about his future at CAF.