Former president of the SA Football Association, Solomon ”Stix” Morewa, is very ill in the intensive care unit at a private hospital in Soweto, City Press newspaper reported on Sunday.
At the Clinix Private Hospital Soweto in Dobsonville, the former flamboyant soccer boss looked a far cry from the man who led South African soccer as president of its first post-apartheid integrated body, City Press reported.
He played a pivotal role in getting South African football readmitted to the international fold after a period of isolation.
Morewa was alone in a ward that had been his home for the past two weeks with no flowers nor any visitors on Saturday morning.
At the height of his career Morewa led fragmented South Africa soccer to unification, was at the helm when Bafana Bafana won the 1996 African Nations Cup, and played an important role in the preliminary stages of bidding for the World Cup.
Morewa was present in Zurich in May when South Africa was awarded the right to host the 2010 World Cup.
City Press reported Safa chief executive officer Danny Jordaan as saying Morewa had played a tremendous role in football during his tenure.
”I wish him a speedy recovery,” Jordaan said.
– Sapa