Even though it was not such a grand entrance, Shauwn “MaMkhize” Mkhize’s arrival in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) in 2021 had a bit of spunk and chivalry to it.
The valour with which she carried herself, was unorthodox, and least expected in the straight-jacket world of football.
She had just lost a protracted legal case against the PSL who blocked her club Royal AM’s entry into the premiership via automatic promotion from the National First Division. She challenged Sekhukhune United’s promotion to the PSL and resorted to the courts.
She refused to toe the line and did not honour the promotion-relegation play-offs, throwing the PSL into a massive state of disarray.
She was also steadfast in showing the old guard that the new kid on the block had arrived and was just about to change the landscape of the SA professional league.
All the spotlights and cameras zoomed in straight at her, she was turning an all-boys club operation into some sort of reality TV content. She was too familiar and comfortable with that – after all, she had a TV show Kwa Mam’Mkhize, where she nonchalantly flaunts her wealth, together with her son, Andile Mpisane.
While the league bosses were being swung from one court case to another, she finally relented and accepted her fate – but she pulled another trick up her sleeve. She bought the franchise of Bloemfontein Celtic, relocated the club to Pietermaritzburg and renamed it Royal AM.
The razzmatazz started.
SA celebrities Somizi Mhlongo, Mpisane and hangers-on such Shaun da Stylist were a regular feature at the club’s matches, where they would be seen dancing to a blaring speaker on the grandstand.
The PSL has established itself as one of the brightest and most functioning leagues in the world. But in recent times, they seem to be working really hard and meticulously to send it down on all fours. Their indecisiveness is slowly leading to their demise.
The league bosses were resilient and bold when they built the PSL with their bare hands. They survived a lot of hardships, and the uncertainty was just too much to bear and to fathom.
In the early years, the league was not so cash-flush but the likes of Irvin Khoza and Kaizer Motaung worked tirelessly to turn it into the multi-billion-rand entity that it is today.
Today, the league finds itself in yet another sequel with MaMkhize and her club.
Royal AM last honoured a PSL match on December 29 and the league has since had to postpone their fixtures. This is due to Mkhize’s battles with the South African Revenue Service, which has placed the club under curatorship. The league is seeking guarantees that the club can continue or may expel them.
The club is still under a Fifa ban and cannot sign any players until they pay a former player R15-million after they terminated his contract in 2022. They even approached the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland but still lost the case.
In October, the PSL executive committee kicked the club out of the DStv Diski Challenge (DDC). The decision was taken after the club was unable to field a team in the 2024/25 DDC competition due to the Fifa registration ban.
No one has ever given the league bosses more grey hairs than Royal AM. This is just another bad sequel of the MaMkhize horror show that the PSL could do without.
