THE Confederation of Southern African Football Association (COSAFA) will this Friday learn of the immediate departure of long-serving Secretary General Ashford Mamelodi.

The Cosafa, which is a body of the SADC regional football mother bodies, will have its annual General Meeting (AGM) in South Africa this week, where Mamelodi has informed Informanté of his intentions to announce his departure.
Mamelodi, who was appointed COSAFA SG in May 1992, has served the regional body for 16 years, and claimed many times that the regional body had pressured him to stay.
“I have had enough. Somebody out there deserves a chance at Southern African football alongside the President (Sekute Patel from Seychelles). I will now concentrate on my FIFA roles and allow fresh ideas to take over the body,” said Mamelodi, who is better known as Big Ash.
Mamelodi will resign having helped many Cosafa members obtain Astro-turf in their main stadium. More than six of the 13 member bodies now have artificial turf, which was spearheaded by Mamelodi as the FIFA Development Officer.
Cosafa is expected to advertise the SG post next year, which will now be taken on a full-time basis with a Head Office scheduled to be in Johannesburg.
Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho and South Africa are the countries mainly expected to recommend applicants for the top Cosafa job.
Mamelodi leaves the office with a dark cloud over the continuity of the senior men’s Cosafa challenge, as sponsors have not been forthcoming since the departure of South African Breweries brand Castle Lager.
He admitted that amidst his innumerable achievements, one of his painful failures was that Fifa had refused to recognise the tournament; hence it was often deprived of the region’s best footballers from Europe.
The Botswana born Mamelodi is now tipped for yet another senior position within Fifa, and will return for the official opening ceremony of the Artificial-turfed Sam Nujoma Stadium next year.