An apartheid-era political prisoner turned multimillionaire mining tycoon has joined the race to be Fifa president. The South African Tokyo Sexwale announced his intention to run in next year’s emergency election to replace Sepp Blatter after receiving the endorsement of the South African Football Association.

Sexwale said at a news conference in Johannesburg that he would submit his candidature papers to Fifa to meet Monday’s deadline after receiving the unanimous backing of his national federation.

The 62-year-old Sexwale’s varied credentials include being a current Fifa anti-racism adviser, a former prisoner on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela, and the previous host of South Africa’s version of The Apprentice television show. He is also a hugely successful businessman with interests in the mining and energy sectors, and whose wealth has been estimated at £130m.

Four other men have already submitted their papers for the Fifa election: Michel Platini, though the Uefa president’s chances appear to have been thwarted by an ethics investigation; his French compatriot Jérôme Champagne, a former deputy general secretary of Fifa; Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who stood against Blatter in May; and David Nakhid a former Trinidad & Tobago midfielder.

To stand as a candidate, hopefuls must be nominated by at least five national federations and show they have played an active role in football for two of the last five years. They will also face ethics checks.

Fifa will elect a new president on 26 February as a result of Blatter’s decision in June to step down amid corruption probes into football’s world body by American and Swiss investigators.

Blatter and Platini, who was previously the favourite to win the election, have both been provisionally suspended for 90 days over a payment of 2m Swiss francs (about £1.35m) Blatter made to Platini in 2011. That could ruin Platini’s chances of standing for president.

If Sexwale is backed as the preferred candidate for the whole African continent, that could put him in a strong position. Africa is Fifa’s largest continental confederation, with 54 voting national associations. Another possible African candidate, the Liberian FA president Musa Bility, failed to gain the backing of the rest of Africa.

As well as working on Fifa’s anti-discrimination committee, Sexwale has mediated for Fifa in the dispute between the Israeli and Palestinian federations, a diplomacy mission given to him by Blatter. He also served on the organising committee for South Africa’s 2010 World Cup.

Sexwale holds strong political credentials. He was imprisoned on the notorious Robben Island off Cape Town for 13 years, some of them alongside Mandela, for fighting against apartheid. He became a close confidante of the Nobel peace prize winner, who died in 2013.

Released from prison in 1990, Sexwale served as a cabinet minister after South Africa’s shift to democracy and at one time held ambitions of becoming South African president. His wealth has often been a story of interest for the media, which reported in 2013 that Sexwale had bought his own personal tropical island in the Indian Ocean for $70m (£45.5m).