Royal AM president Shauwn “MaMkhize” Mkhize has filed an urgent application in the Joburg High Court to declare unlawful and set aside the decision by the PSL board of governors to expel her team from the money-spinning league.
Mkhize is pleading with the court to hear the application on Tuesday, May 20, before the league season comes to an end.
In the court papers, which we have seen, Mkhize said that her team was expelled from the PSL after the executive committee alleged that Royal AM misled the league in its application for renewal of membership it submitted to the regulatory body on July 1 last year, when it stated that its directors were herself and her son Andile Mpisane while the sole director was in fact Shamish Sadab.
“I deny that any misrepresentations were made,” she stated in the court papers.
Mkhize said the CIPC disclosure certificate records showed that Sadab was formally appointed as a director of Royal AM on July 26 last year. This was, she said, after the renewal of the membership application was submitted to the league on July 1 last year.
She said the club intended for Sadab to be recorded as the sole director of the club at the time the renewal of membership application was submitted to the league on July 1, 2024. However, because the CIPC had not yet amended its records, the club was unable to do so, she ssaid.
“Put differently, when the renewal of the membership application was submitted to the league on July 1, 2024, Mpisane and Mkhize were the recorded directors of the applicant (club). This was factually correct, and there is no merit to the allegation that the applicant made any misrepresentations in the application,” she said.
“In any event, even if there was a misrepresentation (which is denied), the NSL constitution does not give powers to the executive committee or the board of governors to make any findings in relation to misconduct.
Only the disciplinary committee is empowered in terms of the NSL,” she said.
She said the league relied on allegations made by Sars that the shareholding in the club had changed.
She said The Shandi Trust, whose sole beneficiary is Mpisane, was a 100% shareholder in the club.
Sadab holds a 38% shareholding as nominee for the Shandi Trust and did not become the owner of the shares.
She said Sadab holds these shares as nominee for the purpose of funding and with a view to increasing the club’s revenue.
Mkhize also said that the executive committee alleged that the club was unable to fulfil its obligations to the two league bans on a Fifa registration.
The league, said Mkhize, did not object to the renewal of her club’s membership based on the bans, and therefore the PSL cannot now rely on the registration bans to cancel Royal AM’s membership after it was renewed with full knowledge of these facts.
Mkhize said the team’s failure to honour some of its league fixtures was a result of Sars obtaining a preservation order against the club on November 21 last year, and the appointment of its curator, Jaco Venter.
Mkhize said since Venter’s appointment, he has not maintained or upheld his fiduciary duties because he failed to pay the salaries of football players, technical staff and other employees of the team.
Despite Venter’s conduct, the club was able to fulfil certain fixtures against Kaizer Chiefs, AmaZulu, Golden Arrows, and TS Galaxy.
She said on January 9 last year, her club informed the league that it could not honour its fixture against Chippa United on January 11 because Venter had not yet paid the players’ salaries.
“It is important to emphasise that it was only the Chippa United FC match that was postponed.
“On 17 January 2025, the league was assured that the applicant and the curator would provide the executive committee with what was described as a ‘Letter of Comfort’ that the applicant’s issues, caused by the appointment of the curator, would be resolved. An assurance was given that the Letter of Comfort would be provided by January 17, 2025 by Venter.
“During this time, the only person who could provide that letter was the curator, who on January 21, 2025, told the applicant’s owners that such a letter would not be provided unless an amount of R900 000 was provided to cover the shortfall in cash flow, without using any of the assets under the preservation order,” she said.
Mkhize said the league stopped paying the discretionary grant of R2.3-million to the team from January this year. Despite this, the club continued to pay the salaries of its players.
“By suspending the applicant’s future fixtures and failing to pay the grant to the applicant, the league has contributed to the failure by the applicant to play its fixtures.
The discretionary grant was enough to cover salaries of R1.9 million.
