February 8 – Tokyo Sexwale may be clutching at straws but he refuses to give up hope ahead of the FIFA presidential election – for the moment at least.
The former anti-apartheid politicial prisoner turned business mogul says he was not surprised that the executive committee of Confederation of African Football (CAF) decided in Kenya last week to formally endorse the candidacy of Asian president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa over himself.
South Africa will still vote for its compatriot but his chances of winning the ballot have been virtually wiped out.
“[The decision] is just the CAF executive committee decision and not the 54 associations that make up the continent. I still believe I can win the election come 26th of this month in Zurich,” Sexwale, Africa’s only presidential candidate, said somewhat optimistically.
“There are 54 associations from this continent, many of which will make their own choices. And those associations have got every reason to make their votes.”
Sexwale, 62, remains defiant about remaining in the race. “The election goes ahead and I am a candidate,” he emphasised amid reports he was on the verge of pulling out. “The exercise in Kigali was the assembly of CAF executive committee, and it was here only to make a recommendation about which candidate they would like to nominate.”
But tellingly, he admitted he felt let down by CAF’s directive.
“This is the biggest continent in the family of FIFA. And of course naturally I thought, maybe, I should have been looked at a bit more favourably by my own confederation.”
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