Mosima Gabriel "Tokyo" Sexwale (Venda: [sexwále];[1] born March 5, 1953) is a South African businessman, politician, anti-apartheid activist, and former political prisoner.

After an almost two-year trial in the Supreme Court of South Africa in Pretoria,[citation needed] he was charged and later convicted of terrorism and conspiracy to overthrow the government.

[4] After his release, Sexwale returned to Johannesburg, where he served as head of the public liaison department of the African National Congress Headquarters.

The reasons for this were never made completely clear, but was reportedly due to feeling stifled by central government restrictions as well as becoming exhausted by internal African National Congress intrigues.

[citation needed] Further speculation is that Sexwale left politics due to strong disagreements with the then Vice-President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki.

Once Thabo Mbeki appeared as the favourite candidate, both Sexwale and Ramaphosa left politics to follow successful careers as businessmen.

Sexwale admitted on BBC's Hard Talk that if asked to stand for the elections as party president by structures of the ANC, he would seriously consider it.

He did not stand for the Deputy Presidency as certain media speculation expected,[citation needed] the post eventually going to Kgalema Motlanthe.

Sexwale was nominated as Kgalema Motlanthe's Deputy Presidential running mate on 2 October 2012 by various regions in the Eastern Cape, the ruling party's second largest branch.

The African National Congress Youth League also indicated that it would back Sexwale for the Deputy Presidency at the ANC's leadership election in Mangaung, Free State.

In 2002, he was refused a visa to enter the United States, which kept him from attending the listing of Gold Fields (a company in which he holds a 15 percent stake) on the New York Stock Exchange.

[20] After initiating legal action, going so far as to having papers served on the U.S. Department of State and following personal intervention by Condoleezza Rice, Sexwale and the others received ten-year waivers from the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Department of Homeland Security, as the government felt that permanently delisting them would mean changing the law, which would be a lengthy process.

[27] Sexwale's Group 5 has received criticism for their involvement with Gugulethu Tycoon, Mzoli Ngcawuzele in the Guguletu Square Mall.

[33] Sexwale was believed to be the driver behind two British Virgin Island vehicles, Palladino Holdings and Floras Bell, which were managed by Walter Hennig.

[33] In April 2011 Walter Hennig concluded a secret deal with the Guinean President Alpha Condé that would transfer billions of dollars of mining assets belonging to companies such as BHP and Rio Tinto – who wanted to invest billions to develop the mines of Guinea – to South African intermediary Palladino Capital.

[33] Behind Walter Hennig and the $25 million loan agreement were Sexwale; Mark Willcox, the chief executive of Mvelaphanda Group, and several other businessmen of South African, Polish, and British extraction.

[13] In July 2012, the Russian publication Argumenty i Fakty reported that Walter Hennig, through Palladino Capital 2, made a series of payments totalling $25 million to the Guinean president's son, Mohammed Condé.

[13] When faced with these accusations, Sexwale declined to comment personally and instead released statements through his spokesperson Xolani Xundu that he would not confirm or deny any of the claims from "faceless sources".