Chiyangwa invites Fifa president for party. Boardroom coup or just a chance for selfies?

Zifa and Cosafa president Dr Philip Chiyangwa is upsetting a lot of people over at the continental governing body Caf.

Zifa president Philip Chiyangwa (r) with Leicester City coach Claudio Ranieri

Chiyangwa is hosting a birthday party and Cosafa presidency in Harare on 24 February 2017. And in an invite to Zambia’s Kalusha Bwalya he said:

It is with utmost pleasure that I write to you to invite you to a ceremony to celebrate and to mark my victory as COSAFA President and my belated birthday as I was born on the 3rd of February. The celebrations will be held on the 24. of February 2017 in Harare. Zimbabwe. The FIFA President — President Infantino will grace the occasion as the Guest of Honour.

Now this of course has upset CAF’s current president Issa Hayatou. We hear you ask why.

Well Cosafa, which is the governing body for the Southern Region, doesn’t quite like the current president and wants him out. They recently endorsed Ahmad Ahmad as candidate for the upcoming Caf elections in March. That theoretically means he has 13 votes. Except Caf says there is something sinister going on:

The CAF leadership has been informed that a meeting is convened by yourself in your capacity as COSAFA chairman, in Harare Zimbabwe on February 24th 2017, right after the FIFA executive Summit planned in Johannesburg on February 21st to 23rd 2017.
Such a meeting would not include only presidents of member associations of COSAFA but also presidents of many member associations outside the zonal union of COSAFA. The CAF leadership would like to remind you that you do not have the authority to convene such a meeting without CAF knowledge nor without its required approval.

Johannesburg is in the reason. Infantino is in the region at that time. Loads of people to canvass votes from.

Or is it just getting over-excited about an opportunity for selfies.