So, Patrice Motsepe is the new czar of the beautiful game on this continent, having assumed the presidency of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) a fortnight back. Although he mounted a formidable campaign, in the end this position came on a silver platter, as the other pretenders to the throne withdrew their candidatures before election day, having been prodded by world football governing body FIFA into doing so.

That FIFA saw fit to dispatch its president to broker the deal that resulted in Motsepe’s erstwhile rivals lining up behind him speaks volumes about the respect he commands in global football circles. In recent years, CAF has been plagued by maladministration and corruption, with the latter scourge having led to the banishment of Motsepe’s predecessor from all football activities for an initial five years, which has since been commuted to two years.

Word is that FIFA felt that, of the four initial candidates, the South African mining billionaire was best placed to clean up its troubled affiliate and was not in favour of any of the other three assuming the top position, given their previous associations with CAF. To entice them to abandon their bids, the two vice president positions and the special adviser position were dangled before them.

That Motsepe will be good for African football is a no-brainer. The Mamelodi Sundowns football club boss understands exactly what ills the game on our continent. One of the major issues is money – more correctly, lack thereof. It’s for this reason that he has pledged to prioritise meeting with the likes of Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of French petroleum company Total, which has been a major CAF sponsor since 2016. Given his contacts in the business world, including through the World Economic Forum, it shouldn’t be too difficult for him to attract the funding that is sorely needed.

Once the moolah starts pouring in, Motsepe said when he unveiled his ten-point manifesto early this month, the continental body would build football infrastructure in member countries and invest in youth development and women’s football. His other pledges are to improve the efficiency and professionalism of CAF competitions, adhere to governance and auditing best practices, protect the integrity and professionalism of referees, implement statutory reforms, introduce video assistant refereeing and forge stronger partnerships with FIFA and other continental governing bodies.

Like other lovers of the African game, I am thrilled at Motsepe’s ascendancy to the CAF presidency. He is only the second Southern African to do so after Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad, the fellow who FIFA now doesn’t want to see anywhere near football administration for the next two years for allegedly having engaged in corrupt activities.

I have one regret, though; it’s that Motsepe chose to bid for the leadership of CAF instead of the South African Football Association (SAFA). When Solomon Morewa and his successor, Molefi Oliphant, were at the helm of Mzansi football’s mother body, the national team was a force to be reckoned with, clinching the continental accolade, the African Cup of Nations, in 1996 and coming second two years later. The team even qualified for the 2002 World Cup and gave a reasonable account of itself.

Bafana Bafana’s world rankings were decent in those days: 19 in April 1996 and 31 in September 1998, for example. But not anymore. The team was seventy-first in February. Unless a miracle happens, there won’t be an improvement any time soon.

Perhaps when he is done with CAF, Motsepe may be persuaded to join SAFA and clean it up. But that’s assuming he will not be like Cameroonian Issa Hayatou, who was elected to the CAF presidency in 1988 and ended up serving for nearly three decades – until 2017.