SOUTH AFRICAN business magnate Tokyo Sexwale, who was a close friend of Nelson Mandela, said Tuesday he wanted to repair the “severely undermined” FIFA brand as he confirmed he was standing for the presidency of world soccer.

    Sexwale traveled to Egypt to campaign for support from African soccer leaders.

    Africa’s 54 votes — the largest confederation in FIFA — is critical to the South African mining tycoon’s chances of replacing Sepp Blatter as FIFA president.

    Sexwale, a former apartheid-era political prisoner alongside Mandela, will make a presentation to African soccer executives on the second day of their two-day meeting in Cairo.

    The multi-millionaire businessman was making the campaign trip following an invitation from African soccer confederation president Issa Hayatou — the interim FIFA president.

    “I briefed him about my candidacy,” Sexwale said of his meeting last week with Hayatou in Zurich. “He said, ‘Fine. You are free to come and make your presentation.’”

    Sexwale is one of eight men to submit papers by Monday’s deadline to stand in the emergency FIFA presidential election Feb. 26. The others are: UEFA President Michel Platini; Platini’s right-hand man, Gianni Infantino; Asian soccer confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa; Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan; former FIFA official Jerome Champagne; Liberian soccer official Musa Bility; and David Nakhid, a former player from Trinidad and Tobago.

    Contenders must be nominated by at least five national associations and show an active role in soccer in two of the last five years. Candidates will also face ethics checks.

    The 62-year-old Sexwale, a current FIFA anti-racism adviser who was appointed by Blatter to also mediate between the Israeli and Palestinian soccer bodies, said that the situation at FIFA was “beyond worrying.”

    “It’s a nightmare now,” Sexwale said, referring to corruption probes by United States and Swiss authorities that initially prompted Blatter’s resignation, and the later FIFA ethics investigation that led to the suspensions of Blatter and Platini.(SD-Agencies)