Gunners fail to keep P1.8m debt promise
Mqondisi Dube | Friday December 21, 2018 12:21
After assuming office at the beginning of the season, chairperson, Tariq Babitseng had told Mmegi Sport that they will clear the long standing debt within their first three months in office.
But as the year winds, Gunners are instead facing mounting financial woes. The players recently boycotted training over unpaid allowances, while former employees; Daniel ‘Chico’ Nare and Pio Paul were recently awarded hefty payouts by the courts over outstanding salaries.
The early season buoyant mood has been punctured and Gunners now face the stark reality that their financial troubles are the regular irritant that refuses to go away. Gunners chairperson, Babitseng said if the club was a company, it could have long been liquidated.
“The challenge (why we haven’t cleared the debt) is that it is not only the P1.8 million owed. There are several other cases, and some issues are not monetary. If Gunners were a company, we would be under liquidation or judicial management.
“What we owe, surpasses what we get as revenue, which effectively means we cannot pay our debts,” Babitseng revealed yesterday.
He said they are trying to weather the storm and often get assistance from Gunners’ supporters’ branches. Babitseng said some of the debts date as far back as 2003.