It seems like too many business people wanting to buy their way into the PSL have no idea of what it takes to run a football club.
Royal AM are the latest Premier Soccer League (PSL) club facing extinction, bringing back into focus the Premier Soccer League’s process in allowing the purchase of club franchises.
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In recent years, it seems like too many business people wanting to buy their way into the PSL have no idea of what it takes to run a football club.
The franchise system has long been a part of South African football.
Controversial PSL model
This is a controversial model, allowing teams to effectively buy promotion and giving a feeling of impermanence to so many clubs. But it can work financially, if the prospective buyer is properly vetted and is committed to the long term project of building a club.
Examples of this are Cape Town City owner John Comitis, who purchased the Mpumalanga Black Aces franchise back in 2016.
Even further back, in 1994, M-Net bought the Pretoria City franchise, and SuperSport United are still there today as a Betway Premiership club.
In other cases, however, the process has been a total shambles. In 2020, Bidvest Wits sold its status to Lawrence Mulaudzi, a businessman whose career has been shrouded in controversy.
Mulaudzi renamed the side Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila and took it to the Limpopo province. But by January, amid reports of unpaid wages and players strikes, the PSL had already approved the purchase of TTM by another investor.
In the same year, 2021, Royal AM were in the spotlight as they were allowed to buy the status of top flight side Bloemfontein Celtic.
Royal AM make a mess
The owner of Royal AM, flamboyant businesswoman Shauwn Mkhize, had already been in the courts before buying Celtic, fighting for her side’s right to be promoted from the National First Division. Mkhize lost that case, but was then handed a pass into the Premiership.
Mkhize also has a controversial business history, and raised eyebrows with some of her antics as Royal AM owner too. This included handing out cash bonuses to players on the pitch after one victory.
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And now the money seems to have gone, with the South African Revenue Service targeting Mkhize over a reported R37 million tax debt.
PSL chairman Irvin Khoza has previously pointed to the league’s responsibility to its sponsors to have 16 teams in the Premiership. But surely it is also the PSL’s responsibility to have better checks and balances in place for those wanting to buy a football club?
