The elective AGM will see the regional soccer body elect a new committee, with the president, Philip Chiyangwa from Zimbabwe, not seeking re-election. Chiyangwa was elected unopposed replacing Suketu Patel in 2016. Angola’s Artur Almeida e Silva is set to become the new COSAFA president as he is unopposed after the close of nominations on April 11. COSAFA was due to hold its AGM in December but the meeting was postponed amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the region driven by the Omicron variant. COSAFA holds its meeting at a time when Botswana and Namibia have upped the ante in their bid to host the 2027 AFCON finals. The two neighbours want to present a joint bid to convince CAF to bring the tournament’s finals to southern Africa. If successful, Botswana and Namibia will become only the third and fourth southern African nations to host the competition in its 65-year history. South Africa and Angola are the only other southern African countries to ever host the biennial competition. Botswana Football Association president, Maclean Letshwiti and chief executive officer, Mfolo Mfolo will attend the COSAFA meeting. Mfolo said the Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport, and Culture Tumiso Rakgare and his Namibian counterpart, Agnes Tjongarero will address the COSAFA AGM on the AFCON finals bid.
“Both ministers from Botswana and Namibia will have a slot to address the COSAFA meeting,” Mfolo said yesterday.
