DOES Tokyo Sexwale know something the rest us don’t? How else do you explain his insistence on continuing to run for Fifa president even though, at face value anyway, it seems to be an exercise in futility?
The former Gauteng premier is still standing despite criticism for running a lacklustre campaign and will take his place in Zurich’s Hallenstadion when Fifa’s 209 members elect banned former president Sepp Blatter’s successor on Friday.
Sexwale’s confidence has baffled many over the past few weeks and even his biggest critics are starting to wonder what he might have up his sleeve after doggedly pushing ahead in the face of furious condemnation from inside and outside the country.
If the bookmakers are to be believed, Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa is favourite to win the race and has the edge on Switzerland’s Gianni Infantino, Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein of Jordan, Frenchman Jerome Champagne and Sexwale.
Sexwale has survived several setbacks to his campaign and elected to stay in the race even after the Confederation of African Football (Caf) decision to throw its weight behind Sheikh Salman. Ouch!
He is the lone candidate from Africa and yet Caf elected to officially back a candidate from another continent.
That snub must have hurt even though Sexwale publicly insisted that it was like water off a duck’s back.
The biggest question on everybody’s lips now is whether the South African Football Association (Safa) will vote for him.
Safa president Danny Jordaan, vice-president Irvin Khoza and CE Dennis Mumble depart for Zurich today and they have decided not to reveal who will get SA’s vote on Friday.
The tricky state of affairs has forced Safa into a very tight corner.
Jordaan had said at the beginning of the month they would be guided by Caf on which of the five candidates to support and after the continental body announced its support of Sheikh Salman, it is unlikely Safa will go against the tide.
Sexwale has said he is certain of getting Safa’s vote but things are not that straightforward.
While the voting will be by secret ballot, things could get very awkward if he does not garner a single vote, as some observers have suggested.
Sexwale has often suggested he is open to discussing a deal with one of his rivals and hasn’t been too shy to put the possibility of forming an alliance on the table.
‘‘What is important for me is I’m in the top five (candidates). But I am also still a realist and I’m open to negotiations and alliances," he told a news conference after visiting Robben Island with Infantino at the weekend.
Whether any of his rivals bite is a whole other story.
It is certainly going to be a dramatic day in Zurich and there is speculation that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) could use the election to make more arrests in its corruption investigation of Fifa, a rumour that has only served to further spice things up.
Given that the FBI likes to make arrests in the glare of the public spotlight, daybreak knocks on some doors could be a very real possibility in Zurich this week.
Sexwale is seemingly oblivious to all these distractions and his bid continues unabated.
There has been no shortage of cynics lining up to pick holes in his campaign and it was speculated this week he could well withdraw.
But the politician has steadfastly maintained he will take his fight to the bitter end.
We will know soon enough if he will be ‘‘humiliated" as some have suggested, or if he knows something the rest us do not.
• Follow Ntloko on Twitter at @ntlokom
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