Morocco appears to have waded into murky water after the North African nation denied Kaizer Chiefs visas this week and pulled the plug on a high-profile Champions League match in a decision that could put the country in a tricky position in the coming weeks.
Chiefs were to face Wydad Athletic in a continental group stage match in Casablanca yesterday but after giving the South Africans the runaround for several days, the Moroccans rejected the Naturena-based club's applications for visas and cited fears over Covid-19 as the reason.
But the decision has opened a Pandora's box for the Moroccans as they are scheduled to host the Confederation of African Football (Caf) presidential elections in Rabat on March 12, and the 2021 Africa Under-17 Cup of Nations.
SA Football Association (Safa) CEO Tebogo Motlanthe said they have written to Caf and asked the continental body to explain whether the presidential elections and the Under-17 Cup of Nations will also be impacted by the decision against Chiefs.
"It is not only the [Caf elective] congress [that comes under the spotlight after the decision], remember the SA under-17s must go there and play in the Afcon in March," he said.
"So we wrote to the secretary of Caf and said we want him as soon as possible to give us the position because we as Safa do not want to watch this [Caf elective congress] on TV. We want to be there and participate."
Safa have a vested interest in the Caf presidential elections as Mamelodi Sundowns boss Patrice Motsepe is one of the candidates and he will be up against Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast, Augustin Senghor of Senegal and Mauritanian Ahmed Yahya.
"So we will get a response from them because remember Caf have a responsibility to ensure that where these [Covid-19] regulations are a problem, they come in.
"They have done it in the past in other countries where the Covid-19 protocols [were debated]. The onus is on them."
Safa have asked Caf to explain why Chiefs were kept in the dark until Thursday.
Motlanthe said the continental body is yet to communicate a way forward after events this week and Safa would back Chiefs to the hilt in the quest to get answers from Caf.
"There's no date yet [for playing the game] but we will write to Caf again first to also understand why communication was done so late [by the Moroccans], check what the rules say [about denying opponents from another country visas at the 11th hour], and of course we are duty-bound to support Kaizer Chiefs in whatever they would like to see happening in line with the rules."
Chiefs spokesperson Vina Maphosa said they have left the matter in Safa's hands and will be guided by the outcome of the conversations between the mother body and Caf.
"For us I think we will be in a better position to engage once we have got the outcome, saying whether the match is played in an alternative venue, on which date, or somebody is awarded points. That is the only time we will be able to get in and make our feelings heard," he said.
"We are incapacitated by the fact that there has not been a decision and we were promised one. So we are waiting to hear what the decision is and based on the decision, then we can make our comment."
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