Sexwale pledges to fix "broken" FIFA
Tokyo Sexwale, the South African candidate to be the next president of FIFA, said Tuesday he would "follow the money" to rid football's ruling body of corruption after recent scandals.
Sexwale, an anti-apartheid campaigner turned politician and millionaire businessman, is one of eight candidates in the race to succeed Sepp Blatter.
FIFA has been in turmoil since May when seven football officials were detained on US warrants in a Zurich hotel two days before Blatter was re-elected to a fifth term.
Blatter announced in June that he would stand down.
"FIFA is broken and what is broken is the administration," Sexwale said. "For me that is the easiest thing I know -- administration.
"(FIFA) has made a lot of money under Mr Blatter, but I have administered organisations, banks, mining companies far larger than FIFA both in the country and abroad.
"Money has got traces, it has got invoices -- follow the money. If you follow the money, it has got fingerprints, footprints. It has got tracks.
"It is about good financial management, control systems, making sure things are done and there is a lot of transparency and accountability.
"That is what I am taking to CAF (the Confederation of African Football) tomorrow and that is what I would like to bring to FIFA."
Bahrain's Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa and UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino are among the leading names to announce they will stand in the February 26 election.
Infantino's announcement appeared to challenge the campaign of UEFA president Michel Platini, who is serving a 90-day ban as investigations continue into a 1.8 million euro ($2 million) payment received from FIFA in 2011 without a written contract.
"Win or lose, people will know there was an African who was here, who shook things up," Sexwale, who was a member of the organising committee for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, told reporters.
AFP