Confederation of African Football President Issa Hayatou famed for building an empire laden with corrupt activities has arrived in Zambia for the Total Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations in Zambia kicking off on Sunday.
Hayatou was accompanied by a corrupt Zambian legen Kalusha Bwalya. Their careers in football administration are haunted by corrupt activities but they both remain in office and seek re-election. Hayatou is competing with Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and may stretch his stay in office to 34 years if he wins next month’s election. Mugabe is at 37 years in office.
And FAZ president Andrew Kamanga has said the arrival of Hayatou had laid to rest any doubts about Zambia not being ready to host the tournament.
Hayatou was on the same flight with Kamanga. They arrived at 12:10 aboard South African Airways in the company of CAF Vice President Almamy Camara, Executive Committee member Kalusha Bwalya among other members on his entourage.
Hayatou granted a rare interview saying that he was not in Zambia to campaign for elections that are due next month.
He took it all in with cautious guard when he was asked whether he was going to lobby Zambia to vote for during the elections that will see Madagascan FA Chief Ahmad Ahmad challenging him.
“We gave the tournament to Zambia four years ago so there is no relationship between the organization of this tournament and elections,” he said.
“Besides the president of FAZ is a friend before everything.” The FAZ President told journalists that the country was ready to host the tournament that will see eight countries do battle.
“We are ready as you can see the CAF president is here. First of all, we would like to welcome him to Zambia. The Vice is also here Game. All those that doubted that Zambia is not ready to host the games this is a good sign that we are now ready,” he said.
The tournament kicks off on Sunday with Zambia facing Guinea in Group A in the opening match while Mali will play Egypt in the second game.
Group B matches will kick off on Monday with Senegal facing Sudan while Cameroun will square off with South Africa.
Tickets for the tournament are no sale across Shoprite outlets and Zampost offices and are going for K10 and K20 for open wing while VIP seats will attract a K200 charge.
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