Durban — The Msunduzi Municipality has remained mum about whether it will be responding to a court application to interdict the financially strained municipality from continuing with its R27 million sponsorship of the Royal AM soccer team.
DA councillor Ross Strachan filed an application in the Pietermaritzburg High Court late last year to force the municipality, which is currently under administration from 2019 because of its failure to deliver services, to abandon its “unlawful” decision taken on July 19 last year.
Strachan said both the Premier Soccer League (PSL) club and the municipality had not responded to him.
“We are now being forced to set a court date with the deputy judge president. We have written to him asking for the court date and we are waiting for him to come back to us,” said Strachan.
Msunduzi Municipality spokesperson Ntobeko Ngcobo and Royal AM boss Shauwn Mkhize did not respond to questions sent to them.
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Bongi SitholeMoloi, who was also listed among the respondents in the DA application, also did not respond.
Strachan said Royal AM had sent a legal letter to the party’s office, against him and the DA for bringing the team’s name into disrepute and for alleged defamation of character because of a statement he released last year.
“The statement was about the fact that Royal AM had double-parked between eThekwini and Msunduzi as it still had a contract with eThekwini at the time it was approaching Msunduzi with a new contract. I say they were abusing taxpayers’ money.”
Strachan said the DA was seeking a court order “declaring the impugned decisions unlawful, and reviewing and setting them aside”.
The council adopted a resolution in July last year to sponsor the team for three years starting in the 2023/24 financial year. The team would receive R9m per annum until the end of the 2025/26 financial year.
According to the court papers, the DA asked the court to force Royal AM to refund the municipality with the money already paid to it, plus interest.
Strachan said the municipality was not financially fit to sponsor the team as it was still under administration.
“In a series of answers to parliamentary questions posed by Lukas Meyer (of the DA) in the KZN provincial legislature, the MEC confirmed on 6 November 2023 that the municipality is still under administration.
“I point out that in these circumstances, it is irrational and unreasonable for the municipality to dissipate tens of millions of rand in public funds to sponsor a PSL soccer club.”
In her written response to Meyer on November 6, Sithole-Moloi said her ministry had yet to ratify the council decision on the sponsorship.
She also said the ministerial representative had raised the matter with the municipality leadership regarding specific concerns and conditions, “which, if are not addressed, the resolution may not be implemented in its totality”.
“The ministerial representative has not yet allowed the municipality to incur any expenditure on the sponsorship of a soccer club until the necessary processes are followed,” read Sithole-Moloi’s response to Meyer.
Sunday Tribune