Shauwn Mkhize's tax troubles escalate: SARS raids Royal AM training facility

Players from Royal AM FC, the football team owned by Shauwn Mkhize, watched in despair as trucks, brought by the taxman, seized goods and vehicles at a training facility on a farm outside Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday. 

The highly secretive operation was aimed at businesswoman Mkhize, who is alleged to have committed tax offences. 

According to sources, the visit and attachment did not only happen at tenderpreneur Mkhize’s properties, including her house in Sandton, Johannesburg, but the South African Revenue Service (Sars) also swooped at the home of her sister, Nozipho Ngubo, in Nkanyezini outside Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday.

The Sars officials and police officers on Wednesday swarmed the club's training facility, the Royal Ranch situated along the R56 road, which connects Pietermaritzburg and Maqongqo.

Approximately 10 trucks were involved in the removal of assets, including those that were suitable for loading furniture. Other small and heavy-duty tow trucks were brought in to tow away vehicles, including heavy construction vehicles and a number of metal shipping containers.

Mkhize did not respond to phone calls and WhatsApp messages sent to her phone on Wednesday. 

Ngubo’s phone was answered by a man who identified himself as her husband, Mvusi Ngubo. 

“She is busy. I will ask her to call you later. 

“Please phone her after two hours,” said Mvusi, but her phone went unanswered.

It had been previously reported that Ngubo had accused her sister, Mkhize of having used her name without Ngubo's knowledge to buy Royal AM FC.

A man who appeared to be a Sars official directed queries to the offices of the team inside the ranch for information about what was happening.  

Team players, apparently oblivious to the ongoing raid, practiced in soccer kits, bearing the  Professional Soccer League (PSL) logo - The club was thrown out of the professional ranks in April after failing to honour their Betway Premiership fixtures, sparked by mounting debts to Sars.

An elderly man, apparently in charge of the players, complained that the media treats the Sars and police raid as a game.

“To us, this is serious and painful because it impacts on the players' future,” he said.

A young man said that the buildings from which the furniture was being removed and placed into the trucks were players' living quarters for the women's team. 

“While we're here (at the soccer field), we saw these people arriving with trucks, and we don’t know what is happening,” he said.

When asked if the players were still receiving their monthly salaries, he said, “That question is not for me to answer”.

But he raised concerns that the players might be left without furniture, including beds.

He said Mkhize had not informed them what the raid was all about. 

A source close to both Mkhize and Ngubo said Sars raided Ngubo’s house at Nkanyezini on Tuesday. 

“The situation is tense. They (Sars and the police) pounced at Sandton and took everything. 

“They also went to the farm (the training facility) where they removed assets yesterday and today (Wednesday). 

“The beds for the players are being taken away and everything in the main house is being taken away,” said the source. 

The source said the authorities also took all the furniture from Ngubo’s house. 

“Today (Wednesday), they are taking a few things that they left behind yesterday,” the source said. 

In one of the buildings at the training facility, a gymnasium packed with equipment was not impacted by the raid.

Sars spokesperson Siphithi Sibeko said the visit to the properties was not a raid, but instead he referred to it as an operation.

 “Sars doesn’t conduct raids,” said Sibeko.

He said that Sars was carrying out an order of the Durban High Court.

“Sars acted in accordance with the court order of 21 November 2024. We act within the law and do so, without fear, favour or prejudice,” said Sibeko.

Sibeko declined to disclose the details of the raid, which he said were contained in the court order.

“The court order explains the number of people cited as to whom the investigation applies. 

It was previously reported that the Royal AM was placed under the curatorship of Sars due to Mkhize owing R40 million in unpaid tax.

The team, which enjoyed a three-year sponsorship from the Msunduzi Municipality, was reportedly kicked out of the  PSL after Sars failed to find a new buyer.

During a raid that took place late last year, the police and Sars discovered and confiscated over 40 firearms, ammunition, and luxury vehicles at Mkhize’s properties in Durban, Pietermaritzburg, and Johannesburg.

The firearms, which were found together with 2,000 rounds of ammunition at a property in La Lucia, included rifles, shotguns, and handguns.

During that raid, cars that were taken away included a Lamborghini and a Rolls-Royce owned by the Shandi Trust and Royal AM, a Mercedes-Benz Maybach, BMW X6, Mercedes-Benz-AMG G 63, a Toyota Hilux Legend 50 and a Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

bongani.hans@inl.co.za