Although ex-Zimbabwe Football Association chairman Leo Mugabe believes unseating Confederation of African Football’s president Issa Hayatou will not be an easy task, he has lambasted the Cameroonian.
Mugabe said Hayatou did nothing to ensure Zimbabwe participated at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers en route to Russia.
Reports in Zimbabwe indicate that they were handed the rights to host the 2000 CAF Africa Cup of Nations, but were unfairly withdrawn after Hayatou was angered by reports that Mugabe voted for ex-FIFA boss Sepp Blatter in the 1998 FIFA elections.
Although Mugabe has since denied voting against Hayatou, he says it was former COSAFA president Ishmael Bhamjee who misled CAF as the two battled for regional supremacy.
“The rights to host the 2000 AFCON tournament could have been taken away from us because of the reports that I had voted for Blatter,” said Mugabe.
“But I can tell you it was not true. I was in the CAF executive committee and I could not go against the agreement that I was part of.
“What was happening was that Bhamjee was battling for regional supremacy and was feeding CAF with wrong information to tarnish my image.
“Hayatou did nothing to protect us as country when we were expelled from the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers.
“He knows our situation in Africa that we are not well-resourced and it was unfair to ban us from the World Cup Qualifiers.
“He was FIFA acting president, but he did nothing. Zimbabwe should not have been punished by denying our players the chance to participate at such a big stage.
“Can you put a value to what we lost by failure to participate compared to what we owed the coach?”
