Cosafa members petition CAF

Sport
BY MICHAEL MADYIRACosafa members have joined forces and petitioned Confederation of African Football (CAF) against the blatant ill-treatment of their teams by West and North African countries during continental football competitions.

The lobby was made at the week-long national associations secretary generals workshop recently held in Cairo, Egypt, where Zifa was represented by chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze.

The Zimbabwe Warriors as well as local clubs participating in CAF club competitions are often met with de-humanising conditions in the jungles of African football and their complaints have yielded no remedy to the situation.

They are abused during their visits to West and North Africa where they are usually booked into brothel-like hotels that sometimes have no running water and experience constant power-cuts.

While West Africans are the chief culprits for ill-treating visiting teams, their northern counterparts are also known for employing mind games prior to crucial matches.

And despite numerous calls for the continental football mother body to put an end to this mind-blowing tendency, CAF tends to disregard the calls.

Mashingaidze said the Cairo workshop which was jointly organised by CAF and Fifa would help in improving the way clubs are handled.