Miscellaneous trio face the axe

Koketso Kgoboge | Wednesday December 21, 2016 22:23

 

The three players; Kelapile Terata, Bokani Loeto and Dikaelo Poulwe are said to have conspired and tried to lure other players to boycott the game against Jwaneng Galaxy, which they (the trio) went on to boycott. The trio also missed the team’s encounter against Black Forest.

According to one of the three players, the impasse arose when they demanded their wages. He said the team owes him and others salaries from last season and have not made an effort to pay his signing-on fee since he signed a contract.

“The team owes me a lot of money in salaries backdating to December last year. I was paid for the month of May and that was probably because they wanted me to sign a contract in August, which I did and after I signed they never paid me.”

The player said he had previously engaged and reached a compromise with the club management that they will make easy payments of some of the money the team owes him as a way of trying to cut off the hefty debt and since the management is not forthcoming he has decided to stop playing for the club. “It is hard when you rely on football alone.

I cannot carry on playing while I do not get paid and I am told a similar story every day. I am ready to leave. In fact, my plan was to meet with the management to terminate my contract and they acted ahead of me,” he said.

When reached for comment, club spokesperson, Edwin Ntau confirmed the matter and said the club is struggling financially but have ensured the players understand their status. “We are doing the best we can for the welfare of all our players. We are transparent with our players therefore we expect the same from them,” he said.

Ntau said there are structures they expect players to follow when they have grievances and not to try and sabotage the club.

He said they will not condone indiscipline in the team and had summoned the trio for a hearing but until now they met with Pouwe and Loeto and they are waiting to serve them with formal communication that determines their future following the hearing.

“If issues of indiscipline arise we will nip them in the bud.

We do not want to risk a situation where it spills and the rest of the squad becomes unmanageable. We cannot say we have parted ways with the players but we will communicate that information after they are served with their letters,” he said.