Mpumalanga business tycoon, Robert Gumede, appointed to Fifa position

The Mpumalanga-born entrepreneur and philanthropist, Robert Gumede, continues to break barriers and rewrite the history books.
This internationally renowned business magnate has been appointed as a member of the special Fifa Foundation Advisory Board.
Gumede owns the largest 100% black-owned IT company on the continent, the largest African integrated tourism and leisure company, and a string of businesses in the rest of Africa, including copper and cobalt mining companies.

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He is actually not new to the game of football. He is a former sports administrator who owned and took the popular Nelspruit Dangerous Darkies FC from the fifth division to the elite Premier Soccer League (PSL). He was the youngest owner of a PSL club in the early 80s and 90s. Darkies produced Bafana Bafana stars like David Nyathi, who plied his craft in Switzerland, Spain and Italy.
He further ventured into premium rugby when he broke the race barrier by buying 49% of the major then Afrikaner-owned and led South African rugby club, the Lions. Gumede bought and brought back overseas-based Springbok rugby players and turned the Lions into a major team.

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“It is humbling for Fifa to have identified and approached me to consider accepting the historic appointment. Fortunately, football runs in my DNA. I was in football leadership and ownership as the youngest professional football club owner in the 80s and 90s. I worked in the era of Safa George Thabe, NPSL Roger Sishi, Taunyane, Abdul Bhamjee and Cyril Kobus, Irvin Khoza, and Kaizer Motaung, all astute football leadership. I rose through the ranks of amateurs to the NPSL and then unified Safa and NSL,” said Gumede.
He said he is ready to serve the rest of Africa and the world as they execute their Fifa mandate of changing the world.
Gumede’s other passion is sharing his wealth with the masses, especially the youth, women and underprivileged communities. He set up the Robert Gumede Family Keni Foundation, which is named after his late mother, Keni.

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Gumede is one of the only two Africans appointed on the Fifa Foundation Advisory Board. The other is another entrepreneur from Sudan, Dr Mo Ibrahim. He is an African mobile phone network owner.
The Fifa Foundation is chaired by the former president of the Republic of Argentina and ex-chairperson of Boca Juniors FC, Mauricio Macri.
It is responsible for all Fifa’s social responsibility and philanthropic programmes. It injects monies into the social upliftment of communities globally. The foundation will also raise donations for the development of sports facilities, training, coaching, building schools and clinics, environmental awareness campaigns, building boreholes, the agricultural sector and other noble global causes.