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“This ball goes with me wherever I go these days,” says Fifa presidential candidate Tokyo Sexwale as he proudly shows us a 46664 match ball that was used in the game between the African XI and a Rest of the World XI on July 18 2007.
“It’s my good-luck ball,” he says.
The match was played in honour of Nelson Mandela’s 89th birthday.
“There were three balls – one was given to Madiba, another to Pele of Brazil and Mandela handed this one to me.”
Sexwale – the larger-than-life South African rand billionaire – is a former political prisoner and Gauteng premier; he also served a five-year stint as minister of human settlements.
Not one to dream small, he now wants to add president of scandal-ridden world football governing body Fifa to his already colourful CV.
Although he never played professionally, Sexwale’s love for football can be traced back to his childhood in Soweto. His father, Frank Makhura “Killer” Sexwale, was vice-president of the Dube Golden Brothers side.
A young Sexwale used to clean the truck that delivered coal during the week, preparing it for weekends when it would ferry players to games. He used to polish soccer boots and carry the players’ clothes when the Dube Golden Brothers were playing.
During his 13-year stint on Robben Island, Sexwale became secretary-general of the general recreation committee, which operated the Makana Football Association.
The association – named after the 19th-century warrior prophet who drowned while trying to escape imprisonment on Robben Island in 1819 – was a sporting body formed by political prisoners in 1966. It was given honorary Fifa membership in 2007.
Now, after being endorsed by Safa, Sexwale wants to take his passion for the game of billions all the way to the top.
He spent the week at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) headquarters in Cairo, where he and three other candidates, Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein, Gianni Infantino and Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa made presentations.
“We were very well received in Cairo,” he says.
“We went away from CAF confident that our message was well heard and well received.”
Sexwale went to Cairo by invitation of CAF president Issa Hayatou, who is acting Fifa president until the global body’s elections on February 26.
“After I informed him I was making myself available for the Fifa presidency, he said: ‘Come and address us.’ I felt it was proper to start here on the continent, as I had already briefed Safa about my vision.”
Part of Sexwale’s presentation was that:
. It was time Africa put up its own candidate;
. He was going into this campaign not only as an African, but to show the world that since the continent was able to host a successful World Cup in 2010, it also had the ability to produce a good global president;
. As president, he would do a lot to improve the game of football in the developing world;
. Under his presidency, there would be even-handedness when it came to the distribution of funds;
. Africa needed more slots on the Fifa executive; and
. He was eager to work with the Issa Hayatou Foundation to develop football on the continent.
All presentations were made at separate closed sessions chaired by Hayatou and attended by a number of football leaders from the continent.
On his vision for Fifa, Sexwale says: “That office needs a president who can fix the broken and damaged image of Fifa. The organisation is mired in scandals because of alleged corruption.”
Asked how he plans to fix the damage if he becomes president, Sexwale says he has learnt a lot since becoming part of Fifa in 2006.
“I first became a member of the fair play and social responsibility committee,” he says.
The committee is in charge of fair play on the field and how players deal with their fellow players. It also advocates against doping and corruption.
“If all Fifa members observed these rules of fair play, a lot of the current problems would not have been there,” he adds.
From initially serving in the fair play committee, Sexwale has gone on to serve on several subcommittees, including those for media and the committee of the Fifa global task force against racism and discrimination.
It was through his involvement with the latter that he was assigned by Fifa to lead a monitoring committee to oversee issues affecting the development of football in Palestine.
That committee was established in June, based on a decision by the 65th Fifa congress in May – when the Palestine Football Association withdrew its proposal for the suspension of its Israeli counterpart.
Sexwale has already held several talks with football leaders on both sides.
He keeps an old Primus stove at his offices in Houghton, Joburg. This comes in handy for boiling water to prepare his “special coffee brew” when there are power outages.
With the race to replace Blatter heating up, his special ball and coffee brew might come in handy to see off strong challengers like Infantino.
The Italian is the current general secretary of European football association Uefa, and is emerging as the clear frontrunner.
