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PSL chairperson Irvin Khoza has maintained that his relationship with Black Leopards boss David Thidiela was intact.
This was despite public perception that relations between the two might have soured after Thidiela wrote a scathing letter to Safa – copied to Fifa – in December, in which he asserted Khoza had captured the PSL.
He asked the two football governing bodies – at national and global level – to institute a commission of inquiry into the affairs and running of the PSL.
The letter was written after Thidiela was put on “precautionary suspension” by the PSL executive committee following his outburst and racial slurs at referee Victor Hlungwani in September.
The Leopards owner is appealing his subsequent one-year ban from football and a R1 million fine imposed on him by the PSL disciplinary committee, which he also accused of being captured.
In a rare comment on the subject, the “Iron Duke” – as Khoza is also known – told City Press that there was no animosity between him and the veteran administrator from Thohoyandou, Limpopo.
“I can’t be angry with him; we come from far,” said Khoza in reference to the many years the two had been involved in the running of local football.
At first, the Orlando Pirates boss was a bit reluctant to engage on the topic, citing pending legal matters against Thidiela.
“We can’t talk about that because there are matters on the table. I am ... a witness and if I start talking about this, it’s not fair for me. The matter is dead and I am reviving it again.
“The guy is fighting for his survival [a reference to the fact that Thidiela’s club Black Leopards are in a dog fight to avoid relegation] and I am fighting for my survival, so let’s face the legal matters first and then talk,” he said.
Pressed to comment on his relationship with Thidiela, Khoza said: “We are still friends and we talk. I phone him and he phones me. We are talking all the time.
“I am the chairperson of the league. I cannot have my feelings. They say if you are a leader, you must dance to the music even if you don’t like the tune sometimes.”
Although Thidiela remains suspended from the PSL executive, Khoza pointed out that “his position is there until his matters are resolved”.
He said: “That position has not been filled. He has not been expelled from the league. It was just a precautionary measure on our side of the executive and the board of governors.”
Thidiela lost his cool with Hlungwani during his side’s 1-0 loss to Bloemfontein Celtic in Thohoyandou in September.
The decision to suspend him was made at a meeting of the PSL’s highest decision-making body, the board of governors, a few days after the match.
His appeal before Safa’s appeals board on March 16 was postponed after he couldn’t provide records of the previous proceedings.
The rules stipulate that any party taking a matter on appeal to Safa needs to provide the appeals board and the other parties with the typed transcript of the proceedings against which they are appealing.
Thidiela didn’t do that and the matter had to be postponed.
He declined to comment when City Press contacted him about Khoza’s remark about their cordial relationship.
