Right Royal saga puts the boot into Premier Soccer League’s integrity

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - SEPTEMBER 03: Mato Madlala acting CEO of the PSL during the Betway Premiership Season Launch at The Galleria on September 03, 2024 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images)

By Yanga Sibembe

9 Mar 2025

Royal AM’s time in South Africa’s top flight has been marred by controversy. The latest incident is a big knock to the Premier Soccer League’s reputation.

It’s been just under four years since Royal AM crashed-landed in the South African Premiership by buying the top-flight status of financially strapped Bloemfontein Celtic in August 2021. Since then, the club and its owner have been in the spotlight for various reasons – but mostly for eyebrow-raising off-field actions.

The latest is the team’s owner, Shauwn Mkhize, finding herself in the crosshairs of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) after a raid of her Durban home and Royal clubhouse in November 2024. The tax collector secured a preservation order for a number of Mkhize’s assets, including her soccer club.

All this is linked to Mkhize’s family trust fund, Shandi Trust, of which her son, Andile Mpisane, is a trustee.

Read more: Uncertainty looms over Royal AM as Nedbank Cup exclusion and tax troubles shake club’s future

Throughout 2024, SARS tried to attain information on the operations of the trust from the family, to no avail. This eventually led to its raid late in the year as it tried to recoup about R40-million owed to it.

Mounting troubles

At this point, Royal AM are in limbo, and this is affecting their players and technical team. The team last played a competitive match in December 2024 and was recently kicked out of the Nedbank Cup.

Mkhize’s club was already in trouble with world soccer governing body Fifa for failing to pay its former striker, Samir Nurković, R15-million after the Serbian’s contract was terminated in 2022 without him making a single appearance.

This was on the back of the KwaZulu-Natal side recruiting the attacker as a free agent after he left Kaizer Chiefs. Royal have even fought as far as the Court of Arbitration for Sport in order not to pay Nurković, saying he did not honour the terms of his contract fully.

They have failed in all their attempts to reduce the fee they must pay the striker, who is now with SuperSport United.

Despite a continuing transfer ban by Fifa as a direct result of the Nurković case, the saga is far from over. In fact, because of the ban, Royal do not even have a team in the Premiership’s reserve league, the DStv Diski Challenge. The club could not register enough players at the start of this season.

Royal were able to maintain their Premiership participation until December 2024, before the Premier Soccer League (PSL) stepped in to suspend them from participating further in any of its competitions until their SARS issues were sorted out.

Philani Sithebe of Royal AM and Mfundo Vilakazi of Kaizer Chiefs during a Premiership match at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, Limpopo, on 30 November 2024. (Photo: Philip Maeta / Gallo Images)

Now, with this SARS saga, Royal have a lot more to deal with. Although the club is fighting this as well, Jaco Venter, the curator appointed by the revenue service to oversee Royal’s daily operations, is looking to sell the club. The High Court in Pietermaritzburg has granted him this power.

In January, Royal filed an urgent court application against SARS, the PSL and Venter, asking for permission to continue playing in the league. In early February, the court struck the case off the roll, citing a lack of urgency, with the club incurring the costs of the sitting.

“It boggles the mind that taxpayers will turn to courts with ease, yet [be] derelict in their responsibility to meet… their obligations with similar enthusiasm,” SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter said.

“SARS is enjoined by the law to administer the law without fear or favour and to ensure that all taxpayers who are expected to register, file and pay their taxes, do so with ease. In executing our mandate, SARS will remain committed to dealing lawfully with taxpayers who are acting with wilful intent to neglect their tax obligations.”

No easy sell

If SARS succeeds in selling the club, whoever buys it will also inherit its debt, the most significant being the millions that Royal owes Nurković.

Meanwhile, the PSL has been passive in this Royal saga, despite its handbook saying that heading to the courts as a resolution to issues is frowned upon. “There is no statement to make about Royal AM. I have nothing to say,” PSL chief executive Mato Madlala told Daily Maverick.

“When we are ready to say something we always make a statement, so that we say one thing to all of you. I don’t want you to quote me and say this is what I said, when I didn’t say that.

“So, we prefer doing it in writing, so that we can send it to all of you, so that you can quote us from something we have written, and it’s the same thing. The same voice and the same message to all of you. So, there’s nothing else to say.”

While the PSL keeps mum, its public reputation, and that of its sponsors, is constantly taking blows.

Although each league team has its own reputation, the Royal AM shenanigans will have far-reaching consequences for how people perceive South African soccer sides and the league.

Acting PSL chief executive Mato Madlala at the premiership season launch in Johannebsurg on 3 September 2024. (Photo: Sydney Seshibedi / Gallo Images)

‘Politically connected’

Meanwhile, the DA has been critical of the Msunduzi Local Municipality’s decision to sponsor Royal AM with R27-million over three years after Maritzburg United were relegated from the Premiership at the end of the 2022/23 season.

The party took the matter to court, seeking to have the sponsorship terminated, citing Msunduzi’s financial struggles. Judgment in the case, which was last heard in court at the end of February, has been reserved. The court will notify all parties of the outcome in due course.

Nevertheless, the DA is adamant that the sponsorship be terminated amid Royal’s legal troubles.

“This sponsorship is illegal and irrational. We are hoping that the judgment will put the interests of residents first and stop the ANC from continuously exploiting the city [Pietermaritzburg] for the benefit of those who are politically connected,” said Sithembiso Ngema, the DA’s deputy leader in KwaZulu-Natal.

This is just another controversy the club has courted during its time in the South African top flight. It has not been here for a long time, but its impact will be felt for a long time. For better or for worse. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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South Africa

Mounting troubles

No easy sell

‘Politically connected’