JOHANNESBURG, South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale, one of fife candidates seeking to become the next president of FIFA, world football’s governing body, will update the Emergency Committee of the South African Football Association (Safa) on his election campaign here Tuesday.
Safa has dismissed reports that it is concerned about Sexwale’s campaign to the top position, saying this is simply a request to be kept in the loop on his campaign. The football association unanimously endorsed his candidacy last October.
Only a few weeks remain before the election in Zurich and Sexwale, Africa’s only candidate, has been campaigning very quietly around the world. There has been an accusation that his campaign has been lacklustre and that was why he had been summoned to meet with Safa.
Since the announcement that he will be in the race for the FIFA presidency, the former political activist has yet to meet with the local football association.
Safa Chief Executive Officer Dennis Mumble clarified why Sexwale and the National Executive Committee of Safa had not yet met after the NEC had requested an update and why the meeting is now being handled by the emergency committee of Safa.
“The NEC as a collective has not had a report from him for obvious reasons, one the NEC meets every quarter and it has subsequently asked that the emergency committee of the association just get an update from him so that in turn we can inform the NEC of where he is with his campaign, that is what we were asking for last week,” added Mumble.
“Unfortunately because he was campaigning outside the country he could not make it to that meeting because it was short notice.”
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) executive committee will meet in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, on Friday and it is likely that part of the agenda will include the FIFA presidential election and an announcement on who the African football body will endorse among the five candidates for the Feb 26 election.
The meeting on Tuesday between Sexwale and Safa’s Emergency Committee will also be an opportunity for Safa to establish what kind of work they will need to do in Kigali to strengthen his election campaign.
“The CAF executive committee will meet this week, I know they had previously indicated that they wanted to hear from all the candidates which we think is a good thing and take a decision on whether they will support a particular candidate and that is also what we are trying to see what kind of work has been done there and whether it is enough,” said Mumble.
While Tuesday’s meeting will be about getting an update from Sexwale, the association will also share feedback from the rest of the world.
“We hear different things all the time and I don’t think it is for me to repeat what we hear officially from other sources that would have to be coming from him for us to be able to take a decision on what kind of additional support he needs.”
Africa holds the largest number of votes, 54, for the FIFA elections and being endorsed by CAF would be a positive step for the 62-year-old Sexwale. The South African will need at least 105 votes from the 209 voting members to be elected FIFA President.
SOURCE: SABC