By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Gauteng High Court has dismissed Royal AM’s application to interdict a PSL Board of Governors (BOG) meeting that scheduled for Thursday.
The meeting was intended to deliberate further on the expulsion of Royal AM.
On Thursday, 11 April 2025, the PSL board of governors (made up of representatives of Premiership and Championship teams) ratified the recommendation of the executive committee to expel Royal AM from the South African top flight.
The decision came after months of uncertainty around the club owned by controversial KwaZulu-Natal businesswoman Shauwn Mkhize. Royal had last played a soccer match in December 2024 — a 3-1 defeat to TS Galaxy.
Since that loss, the players of the club have sat at home, not knowing what the future holds. Royal’s fixtures were suspended by the PSL in January, after the team was taken over by the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
The tax collector targeted the club and a number of Mkhize’s other assets, with the hopes of recouping a tax debt of about R40-million that the KZN businesswoman owes them through a family trust.
In his ruling, Judge Nomonde Mnhqibisa-Thusi dismissed the application and issued a punitive costs order against Royal AM.
This ruling allows the adjourned meeting to proceed.
PSL legal counsel Michael Murphy told Fullview that it was too late to reconvene the meeting. The adjourned Board of Governors meeting will be rescheduled.
The PSL initially played ball and worked with SARS as the latter attempted to auction off the club to the highest bidder. A failed deal to sell the club, facilitated by SARS-appointed curator Jaco Venter, essentially forced the league’s hierarchy into making the landmark decision to expel Royal.
The expulsion of Royal means that all 11 matches played by the team will be nullified and the points earned by other sides in those fixtures will be expunged. No team will be directly relegated this season, but the team that finishes 15th on the log will participate in the relegation/promotion playoffs at the end of the season.