On Sunday, 10 March 2013, SAFA participated in the 35th CAF Congress wherein the future of the sport on the continent was discussed by all 54 Members of CAF.

We are encouraged by the report that CAF made a surplus of USD18 million in the last financial year and look forward to helping it to build on that success.

We are also excited by the launch of the CAF Hall of Fame and look forward to the induction of the continent’s football heroes into this Hall of Fame. We congratulate FIFA President, Mr Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter and the President of CAF, Mr Issa Hayatou, as the first two inductees into the CAF Hall of Fame.

“We also congratulate the new Members of the CAF Executive Committee (Exco) on their election and wish them well in their important work. We have no doubt that they will take our confederation to new heights and we look forward to working with the CAF Executive Committee to improve the sport on the continent,” says SAFA President, Mr Kirsten Nematandani.

Whilst we may not have been able to get our candidate elected to the CAF Exco, “we are truly grateful for the strong support shown by our sister federations who voted in support of South Africa’s candidate. This is indeed encouraging for South Africa’s future role in African football,” says Mr Nematandani.

SAFA notes with concern the deviation from the 2012 COSAFA decision that the two positions reserved for the Southern Zone on the CAF Exco would be allocated to a candidate from the Indian Ocean islands and the other to a candidate from the mainland.

SAFA regrets that this decision was not implemented when a second candidate from the islands continued to participate in the 2nd round of voting after the first candidate from the islands was elected. SAFA will therefore engage COSAFA vigorously on the matter.

We thank President Issa Hayatou for his unstinting support of South Africa’s candidacy and his continued confidence in the South African Football Association as a valued member of the CAF family.