Johannesburg – The Royal AM matter against the Premier Soccer League (PSL) is now going to the Constitutional Court.
The club’s legal representative, Eric Mabuza, told Sunday World that they have approached the highest court in the land on an urgent basis.
The PSL this week finalised and released fixtures for the new season, but the KwaZulu-Natal club is not giving up its fight of getting automatic promotion to Mzansi’s top tier of football.
Royal AM, owned by reality TV star and businesswoman Shauwn Mkhize and her son Andile Mpisane, are fixtured to play against Cape Town All-Stars in their opening match on August 22 in the National First Division.
They are also due to face the league’s disciplinary committee (DC) hearing on Wednesday for not honouring their promotion/relegation playoffs matches against Chippa United and Richards Bay FC.
“We are now waiting for direction from the Constitutional Court. The NSL and others have also filed their papers. We have also indicated to the PSL DC that we have approached the Constitutional Court,” Mabuza said.
“We have a valid defence to the charges that were prepared by the DC against Royal AM. What we did was not unlawful and we acted under legal advice.” Royal AM also want the matter to be referred back to judge AJ Nyathi, who had interdicted the promotion/relegation play-offs not to go ahead. They are fighting the ruling that Sekhukhune United were declared winners of the GladAfrica Championship and, as a result, were promoted to the PSL.
This was after Polokwane City, who defeated Sekhukhune 1-0 in January, had failed to field the required number of players who are under the age of 23.
After a DC hearing, South African Foootball Association arbitrator awarded Sekhukhune three points, which resulted in the club getting ahead of Royal AM on points on the final league standings.
“We are not sure when the Constitutional Court is going to come back to us. It does not matter if the new league season has started or not, what is critical is what the Constitutional Court will say in the end. If they rule that the league dealt wrongly with the matter, then the league will have to implement their decision. If they rule against us, we will have to accept that the highest court has spoken,” said Mabuza.
An independent legal eagle who opted to remain anonymous said: “They’re seeking an urgent enrolment in the Constitutional Court before the commencement of the new league season. The chances of them achieving this are minimal because the matter is not urgent at all. The urgency is self-created by the applicants.
“So, there’s a strong possibility that the Constitutional Court may not entertain the matter directly because there’s still the Supreme Court of Appeal hearing that is pending.” PSL acting CEO Mato Madlala was not available to comment after her phone rang unanswered yesterday.
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