Botswana cries foul
Mqondisi Dube | Saturday September 30, 2023 06:00
Ashford Mamelodi, the Bidco chairperson who was part of Botswana's delegation to the Egyptian capital, voiced dissatisfaction with CAF's procedures. “It was a big blow given our overall investment in the project.
We gave it our all. I wish CAF could be more transparent with issues such as the inspection visit results notwithstanding the vote,” Mamelodi told Mmegi Sport after this week’s decision.
He emphasised the importance of CAF making reports available to bidding countries following the facilities audit report. “If we are going to have professionals such as PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) doing an assessment report, let's have it published so that we know our areas of weakness and strengths,” the former FIFA development officer said. The CAF executive committee held a vote following presentations by bidding nations on Wednesday. Although the vote is conducted through a secret ballot, the results are not disclosed.
“This is my concern. Even (CAF) exco did not know the final results as they were compiled by CAF auditors until the (CAF) president (Patrice Motsepe) announced,” Mamelodi said. He expressed disappointment with the outcome, believing that Botswana had done enough to secure the rights to host the 2027 tournament. “I am aware that although they withdrew, Algeria had a strong bid when it came to infrastructure. So perhaps we should start albeit slowly in building things such as stadia.
I do not think we were too far away,” he said. South African architect Ruben Reddy, who prepared Botswana's bid book, shared Mamelodi's disappointment with CAF's process. “My view is that CAF needs to choose one process of adjudication and stick to it. Using two distinct processes of firstly utilising an expert panel to visit all the bidding countries who then produce a report with hopeful recommendations, but thereafter to use a secret ballot vote by the Executive Committee seems to cancel out the recommendations of the experts,” Reddy told Mmegi Sport. He, however, said CAF is caught between a rock and a hard place.
“It is, however, difficult to please all the people all of the time and CAF is attempting to reduce lobbying and deal-making as much as possible that have been tainted bidding in the past. So it is difficult for CAF too,” he said. Reddy said he was equally confident that the bid would be successful. “We were extremely confident with the material we prepared that was compliant with bid responses and on occasion provided CAF with more information than they required. The inspection team left Botswana with very few questions and further details,” he added.
On the eve of the announcement, Algeria withdrew from the contest, accusing CAF of predetermining the outcome. Sources told Mmegi Sport, Botswana bid had come second to Algeria's according to the CAF assessors re,port. "We don't know how then CAF decided to go for a vote. We are told the winning bid was way behind in terms of the assessors report," the source said. Additional, it is said Botswana suspects a political hand in being denied the rights to host, a claim that has not been independently verified. Botswana is reportedly contemplating approaching CAF to get some clarity on the manner the bid was handled.