TS Galaxy chairman Tim Sukazi explains WhatsApp exchange with Kaizer Chiefs director

TS Galaxy chairman Tim Sukazi says a social media post aimed at Kaizer Chiefs was intended as football banter, despite prompting a WhatsApp message from the club’s marketing and commercial director Jessica Motaung.

Sukazi did not reveal the full context of Motaung’s message, but said it included three questions about the post.

The image, shared after Thursday’s Carling Knockout Cup Round of 16 draw, depicted Kaizer Chiefs as a donkey with the club’s badge placed on the animal’s back. It led to a series of reactions across social media platforms.

Speaking to Andile Ncube on Sports Night Amplified, Sukazi said he only became aware of the post later and did not initially view it as offensive.

“I picked up on this [the post] late,” he said.

“We [the law practice] are very busy but I saw a WhatsApp message from Jessica Motaung with three question marks on it [the post], but this all depends on the beholder.”

Sukazi acknowledged that the post could have affected relations between the clubs before their Carling Knockout Cup meeting, but maintained that it fell within the usual boundaries of football banter.

“Maybe we have made an enemy leading up to the cup match [Carling Knockout] but also it’s banter,” he said.

He added that social media content produced by younger members of the club’s team should allow room for creativity, although he had asked those responsible to explain the image.

“When there’s anything on our social media pages, at times you have to allow youngsters to be creative [on socials] but when I looked at that, I called them in to explain,” Sukazi said.

However, he admitted that the choice of animal could have been handled differently and said a reference to Kaizer Chiefs’ emblem would have been preferable.

“Boundary is within, I would have preferred to see the logo on the lion’s head than the other animal [donkey],” he said.