TS Galaxy chairman has revealed what Orlando Pirates chairman Dr. Irvin Khoza – who is also the chairman of the Premier Soccer League – told him during a phone call around the fracas at Orlando Stadium on Sunday.
Sukazi was manhandled and denied access at Orlando Stadium despite having an access card and was visibly upset for the treatment he received from security personnel and police.
The Galaxy owners has now revealed that he did call Khoza to solve the situation and it seemed like a compromise could be found.
“We had a two to three-minute conversation, he also spoke to a police officer who was also there,” he told Newzroom Afrika.
“After that he asked to speak to his Chief of Security, then he told me ‘you’d rather go to the change room, don’t go to the field’.
“I said ‘look I accept that as a compromise decision but the truth is I’ve got an all-access card, I can be anywhere’.
“We spoke, we spoke only at the time and nothing thereafter. Nothing from the league. I did at the time of the incident – obviously the person that I’d start with, the CEO of the league but unfortunately she wasn’t available on the phone and I had to call the ultimate supremo, the chairperson of Orlando Pirates, who is the chairman of the league.
“That’s when Dr Khoza and I spoke.”
However, Khoza then requested to also speak to his Head of Security who then denied Sukazi access, allegedly ‘on instruction of the chairman’.
“He asked that I access the change room, I said ‘look, I accept that as a compromise position’,” Sukazi explained.
“But then still he asked to speak to his Chief of Security and he spoke to him to two to three minutes and when they were done this guy said ‘no, on the instruction of the chairman’.
“That’s what he said, he told us the chairman has instructed him not to let me in, at all costs. They fear that I would enter the field.
“So the ultimate outcome, I couldn’t join up with my team and we were disjointed and disorganised. If there was anything to maybe pull us apart I think it worked for Orlando Pirates because they won the match anyway.”
Khoza did confirm that he had spoken to Sukazi on the phone, but didn’t want to reveal anything else during a press conference around the new DStv Compact Cup.
“I must also add during that incident that Tim Sukazi phoned me and I had a discussion with him,” he said without revealing anything else.
Acting PSL CEO Mato Madlala, meanwhile, stated that the league’s executive are still awaiting to receive the full reports of the incident.
“We always get the safety reports for the game,” she said.
“Not all the reports have been received by the league, as soon as we receive them, we work on them – if they are to be referred they will be to different places. If they must be referred to legal then it goes to legal – we haven’t received everything.”
