Patrice Motsepe provides CAF stance on jailed FA presidents

In Tunisia, 52-year-old Wadie Jary is in custody and being investigated for money laundering, embezzlement and match-fixing, while Mali’s Mamatou Touré, 66, was also arrested and accused of misappropriation of funds.

Motsepe said the CAF executive were doing everything by the book.

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"Let me say this, we respect the sovereignty of Tunisia, we respect our duty not just to legality but to process and we've also discussed within expo about the president of Tunisia, Wadie Jary who's still in jail," Motsepe said. 

There were reports late last year that Motsepe was trying to “intervene”, especially to assist Touré, who is in the FIFA council.

But his comments suggest the contrary.

"And the message from CAF as I said earlier, our commitment and our respect of the sovereignty and the legality but we also have to emphasise that the legal process must take its cause and he must be brought to court," Motsepe added.

Both Tunisia and Mali were at the AFCON and coincidentally drawn in the same group alongside Bafana Bafana and Namibia.

The North Africans were eliminated in the group stages, while Mali reached the quarterfinals.

Motsepe said CAF would never assume the responsibility of the judicial process in Tunisia regarding Jary.

"Let the courts decide and I say this with the greatest amount of respect for the government of Tunisia as well as for the legal and due process in Tunisia. We have a duty whenever a single member of CAF is either arrested or in jail, in compliance with the law and in respect of the law because we have a deep commitment to respecting and abiding by the law in Tunisia."