Thanda sale: late light in the tunnel?

There has been plenty of animated reaction since the announcement last week that Thanda Royal Zulu’s PSL franchise has been sold to AmaZulu.

This is perfectly understandable, especially from the point of view of Amabhubesi’s ardent supporters – among which is the Zululand Observer.

We agonised over years of just failing to win promotion from the National First Division to the Absa Premiership, and rejoiced when this feat was finally accomplished a few short weeks ago.

Now we hear with heavy hearts that the club’s financial situation simply cannot meet the monetary demands of PSL football, not to mention the payment of millions of rands worth of outstanding bills and overdue player payments and bonuses.

The selling of Thanda came as no surprise, with dire warnings going back as far as 2014 and debts mounting up since then. The City and District municipalities did provide some financial relief – quite a substantial amount, in fact – but nowhere near what was needed to save the club.

The City also invested heavily in the uMhlathuze Stadium and has budgeted R40-million more to upgrade it to FIFA standards. Three successive mayors have lobbied every possible avenue

looking for co-sponsors, but these never materialised.

This has been the major disappointment. After all, not only do the corporate and business employees make up the bulk of the Thanda fan base, the massive PSL opportunity for branding and marketing has been ignored.

This will greatly affect the City and District, who looked forward to seeing football visitors swell the ranks of tourists.

Legal action has been taken by the City to prevent the sale process from being concluded. This is a blessing in disguise – because now everyone is working fervently to come up with a plan to keep Thanda in Richards Bay.

But it is already the eleventh hour. Signing of new player contracts, with assurances, is urgently required, and pre- season training should have started.

If all the energy being expended on recriminations, blame and fault finding can be channelled into positive attempts to save the situation, the last flickering flame of hope can be rekindled to save the day.