COMMENT
In South African football, few figures have been as polarising as the tenacious Shauwn Mkhize, who is likely to make a final, determined push to salvage her club, Royal AM, from what seems to be an impending liquidation.
During this protracted saga, even SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter was baffled by Mkhize’s tenacity. At one stage, he said, “It boggles the mind that taxpayers will turn to courts with ease, yet are derelict in their responsibility to meet their obligations with similar enthusiasm.”
Her football journey has been fraught with challenges, but her unwavering spirit has been evident since the day she decided to own a football club. Since then, she has been a constant thorn in the side of Royal AM’s mother body, the PSL. She repeatedly defied the administration when she bluntly refused to participate in the play-offs at the end of the 2021 season.
The PSL were thrown into massive disarray. Royal AM challenged every PSL decision but lost one case after another, despite Mkhize calling on the services of a few legal heavyweights to gain automatic promotion to the Premiership.
Just when it seemed all was lost, Mkhize announced her arrival in the elite division with great fanfare after buying Bloemfontein Celtic. She might have lost a battle, but she had won the war.
The PSL didn’t do – seemingly – their proper due diligence on that deal and soon discovered that this was a club that showed scant disregard for the organisation or its rules.
Earlier this week, on Wednesday afternoon, the PSL finally announced that their executive committee had resolved to recommend the cancellation of the membership of Royal AM to their board of governors (BoG). It is expected that, on April 10, the BoG will rubber-stamp the recommendation, expelling Royal AM from the league.
The problem with the executive committee and the BoG, however, is that they are made up of club owners. These owners decide the fate of fellow club owners, who are rivals in the same league. For years, the PSL have been told that these bodies have conflicts of interest, but nothing has changed.
Should Mkhize find support from her fellow club owners, the PSL’s recommendation will come to nought, much like SARS’ bid to sell the club at auction.
As things stand at the moment, however, the PSL will seemingly end the season with 15 teams. If that happens, there will be no relegation, and the team finishing 15th – currently SuperSport United – will play a mini-playoff tournament against the teams finishing second and third in the National First Division.
The Motsepe Foundation Championship winners – Durban City are well-placed at the moment to do so – will enjoy automatic promotion. They will be joined by the winning team from the PSL promotion/relegation play-offs, and the Premiership will return to 16 teams.
It will finally bring a highly controversial, highly disruptive, and extremely damaging saga to an end.