Tokyo Sexwale headed to Zurich last night for the final days of campaigning in his bid to become Fifa president saying he was unsure that even his own country would be voting for him, but insisting that South Africa should keep their promise and back him.
The politician and businessman had previously been asked by the South African Football Association (Safa) to consider withdrawing from the race because of an ineffective campaign that leaves him floundering for votes but has doggedly persisted without many signs of encouragement.
But 62-year-old Sexwale said South Africa would vote for him even if he sounded unconvinced at the same time after his showdown with Safa officials last month.
“Fortunately I have the vote from South Africa but will it last? The world was told that South Africa is backing me. They were the ones who held a press conference at OR Tambo to say ‘we are nominating Tokyo, he’s our candidate’.
“The Safa leadership will be there and one of them, Danny Jordaan, will be voting. I guess because I’m their candidate, that’s it.
“So that is what I expect, but because it happens behind a curtain, that’s where the element of chance comes. No one knows what happens behind that curtain. It’s a game of chance.
“If you ask me how many associations have said they will back me, quite a number have said they will not.
“But what is of interest is that others have said, ‘Tokyo, we’ll vote for you but please never tell the world we are going to back you because my association may change me, I may not be the one they send to Zurich to vote on that day’.
“In a way it is a sickening situation, you never know what is going to come. It’s a game of chance,” the former Gauteng premier said.
Sexwale would have had high hopes when he first declared his intention five months ago, but since then he did not receive any formal endorsement despite travelling extensively to see top football leaders.
He now looks too well off the pace of the top two contenders, Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain and the Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino.
He will have today and tomorrow to lobby before Friday’s election, including a presentation to a gathering of the 14-nation Oceania Football Confederation, who are getting together in Zurich ahead of the poll.
Tokyo Sexwale refuses to give up the FIFA job
The politician and businessman had previously been asked by the South African Football Association (Safa) to consider withdrawing from the race because of an ineffective campaign that leaves him floundering for votes but has doggedly persisted without many signs of encouragement.
But 62-year-old Sexwale said South Africa would vote for him even if he sounded unconvinced at the same time after his showdown with Safa officials last month.
“Fortunately I have the vote from South Africa but will it last? The world was told that South Africa is backing me. They were the ones who held a press conference at OR Tambo to say ‘we are nominating Tokyo, he’s our candidate’.
“The Safa leadership will be there and one of them, Danny Jordaan, will be voting. I guess because I’m their candidate, that’s it.
“So that is what I expect, but because it happens behind a curtain, that’s where the element of chance comes. No one knows what happens behind that curtain. It’s a game of chance.
“If you ask me how many associations have said they will back me, quite a number have said they will not.
“But what is of interest is that others have said, ‘Tokyo, we’ll vote for you but please never tell the world we are going to back you because my association may change me, I may not be the one they send to Zurich to vote on that day’.
“In a way it is a sickening situation, you never know what is going to come. It’s a game of chance,” the former Gauteng premier said.
Sexwale would have had high hopes when he first declared his intention five months ago, but since then he did not receive any formal endorsement despite travelling extensively to see top football leaders.
He now looks too well off the pace of the top two contenders, Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain and the Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino.
He will have today and tomorrow to lobby before Friday’s election, including a presentation to a gathering of the 14-nation Oceania Football Confederation, who are getting together in Zurich ahead of the poll.
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