Sukazi backs PSL decision to block Sundowns' participation in the African Football League

The Premier Soccer League's (PSL) staunchest critic agrees with how it handled Mamelodi Sundowns' invitation to take part in the lucrative African Football League (AFL).

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The PSL's board of governors (BOG), the league's highest decision-making body that’s made up of 32 clubs from the national first division and premier division, unanimously voted in support of a decision to bar Sundowns from taking part in the competition. 

This was after the AFL wrote to the PSL asking it to accommodate Sundowns' participation in the tournament that kicks off on 20 October by moving around their fixtures that would clash with the tournament. All 31 members, with Sundowns excluded from the vote as the matter affected them, voted against allowing Sundowns to participate in this competition. 

The PSL's decision has left the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and its president, Patrice Motsepe, with a massive egg on his face. Motsepe, along with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, are key drivers of the league, which is essentially Africa's version of the European Super League that was heavily criticised and died after a few days. 

Eight African heavyweights have been invited to the competition, where the winners will pocket $4-million (just over R76-million). The biggest source of embarrassment from Motsepe is that the league from his home country, which he bankrolls by sponsoring the first division, has not only derailed his pet project but also barred the team he owns and whose running he has relinquished to his son, Thlopie. 

"I have mixed emotions about it," said TS Galaxy owner Tim Sukazi, who sits in the BOG as one of the 32 club owners. 

"Because I am