Royal AM Football Club owner Shauwn Mkhize and chairman Andile Mkhize are in trouble with the Premier Soccer League (PSL) for dishing out cash on the field after winning against Maritzburg United.
PSL prosecutor Nande Becker confirmed that he would charge the flamboyant businesswoman and officials of her club.
After watching her team win 2-1 in the KZN derby, Mam’Mkhize, popularly known, stormed the field with her son and club officials. Andile carried a big brown envelope and displayed bundles of two hundred rand notes in front of the cameras.
The money was the players winning bonus following their historic triumph. Andile and club officials later distributed the cash to the players.
Tension with Royal AM players
The players were disgruntled by the gesture, with midfielder Tshidiso Monamodi pleading in front of the camera with his coach to tell the club officials to stop bringing cash to the field. Besides the humiliation, the players were also worried about their safety in criminal ridden South Africa as they would be carrying cash.
According to sources, the players seek ways to talk to management to avoid further embarrassment as they expect professional treatment from their employer.
Typically winning bonuses, salaries and allowances are transferred to players’ bank accounts, and it is a first of its kind for club officials to pay players on the field.
Mam’Mkhize and PSL legal issues
Mkhize has long been at loggerheads with the PSL. Following the failure of her team to get promotion from the GladAfrica Championship through the courts. Royal AM won the South African second-tier football league and was due to be automatically promoted to the top tier. However, they were asked to do playoffs with Chippa United owing to a decision by the PSL and its disciplinary committee to award automatic promotion to Sekhukhune United.
Sekhukhune got automatic promotion after winning a case against Polokwane City leaving. Mkhize and her club decided to boycott the playoffs but fight their way through the courts. They lost the court cases but later bought the PSL status of another club Bloemfontein Celtic to play in the top flight.
With bad blood between Mkhize and the club football governing body, a protracted fight is likely to happen following the cash handing incident at Chatsworth Stadium, the home of Royal AM.