The MTN/CAF Awards ended here in South Africa with the organizers in conjunction with the continent’s football governing body CAF counting the successes of the event in its third year since the television company Africa Soccer Television took over as organizers.

But for the first edition, the event has attracted the all the major prizewinners, which includes the Footballer of the Year Award, coaches, and FA officials from the various countries as well as journalists from media organisation from all over the world. This event which is rapidly warming itself into the world football calendar this year saw representatives from top companies in the USA, Libya, UK and Congo (Brazzaville) attending the event and also sending in their proposals to sponsor future events. This development has brought much joy to CAF as they openly brag that interest shown in this event is an indication that Africa is now a major player in world football.

But beneath this fa?ade is an unmistakable anxiety for the president of CAF Issa Hayatou whose 15 year reign as the boss of the organisation has been threatened by his one-time trusted ally Ishmael Bhamjee, an executive member of CAF and also the President of the Botswana Football Association. Nine months clear of the CAF general elections in Tunisia, Bhamjee has declared his intention of contesting Hayatou’s position, which has led to a virulent hostility between them. They failed to sit on the same table during the MTN/CAF Awards banquet which is seen by observers as battle lines drawn, as it was the first time Bhamjee avoided sitting on the same table at similar events since 1986 when Bhamjee joined CAF.

Hayatou who for the past 15 years of his reign as the president has enjoyed little opposition is believed to have wreaked such a seemingly serious challenge on his crown when he launched an unsuccessful and acrimonious challenge during the FIFA Presidential election against Sepp Blatter, which was held in South Korea on May 29 last year. It was after the FIFA Presidential elections that murmurs from the corridors of Blatter suggested that his allies would bankroll a heavy assault on Hayatou’s throne given that a large number of Africa countries voted for Blatter at the FIFA elections. This measure will ensure that Blatter will ‘purge’ FIFA of the anti-Blatter camp in FIFA. Hayatou by virtue of him being the President of CAF is automatically a vice President of FIFA. Blatter’s intention of a FIFA clean-up became more evident for Hayatou’s when his right hand man and vice President of CAF Farah Addo was expelled from FIFA’s referees’ committee, obviously for accusing Blatter of impropriety prior to the FIFA elections in South Korea. Others like Michel Zen Ruffinen and Keith Cooper had already been stripped off their positions for their roles against Blatter in the run up to the FIFA elections.

In revenge Hayatou used the biennial reshuffle of CAF’s standing committees to rid CAF of leading Blatter campaigners, Abedi Pele, Roger Milla and high-profile South African businessman Irvin Khoza who is believed to have organised the southern Africa countries against Hayatou at the FIFA elections.

Now for Hayatou the unthinkable is a darned sight. Ishmael Bhamjee for the first time since declaring his intention to wrestle the crown from Hayatou, told journalists at the MTN/CAF Awards in Johannesburg that his objective is to reunite the disjointed CAF family. Bhamjee who is also the President of the strong Confederation of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) added “9 CAF executive positions will be seriously contested. Even the position of Hayatou’s right-hand man CAF vice president Farah Addo will be contested at the CAF polls in Tunisia early next year. Bhamjee made it clear that if he wins the presidency post he would like to surround himself with people he trusts. Asked which people will join his team Bhamjee said, “I will not like to readily speak about individual positions at the moment. I am involved in negotiations with the various zones. By June I will announce my team for the elections.” It is a wide belief in South Africa that pro- Blatterites like Abedi Pele, Irvin Khoza, Molefe Oliphant, and Roger Milla might be added to the list of contestants on Bhamjee’s ticket under the sponsorship of Mohammed Bin Hamman, one of FIFA’s executive committee members, the president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and a close friend of Blatter. It is already speculated in South Africa that Abedi Pele and Emmanuel Maradas recent trips to Africa countries is to shore up support for Bhamjee.

To prevent any possibility of lighting striking twice, Hayatou is reported to have ‘recruited’ some journalists to disseminate his campaign message which will be centred on the setting up of the CAF Foundation to be headed by the credible Interim Chairman of African Union Amara Essy who also attended the MTN/CAF Awards glitterati .The CAF Foundation which is intended to run like the FIFA Goal Project, will raise funds from various sources to assist football associations on the African continent to improve their football infrastructure.Hayatou in reaction to Bhamjee’s allegation charged “Bhamjee should be ashamed of himself if he says the CAF family is divided. He is a member of the CAF executive then he is party to the division. As an executive member what has he done to reunite the family?” Hayatou asked. Hayatou jetted off from South Africa to Angola in what is seen as a campaign trip.

There could be another angle to this battle as another Blatter friend and son of the President of Libya, Al Saad Gadafi in the recent past declared his intention of challenging Hayatou for the throne of CAF. Pundits believe that African football is headed for rancorous battle in the 7 months ahead, which will even be dirtier than the FIFA elections in South Korea. Every great football politician must expect to endure moments like these. They are furnaces in which their mettle is truly tested. The difference between great football politicians and also-rans is that the great ones survive.