Judgement reserved in civil dispute involving Sundowns, MT Sports, and Pitso Mosimane

Judge Shanaaz Mia said yesterday that she will reserve judgment in this matter, which will be disseminated electronically on a date she would have chosen.

Yesterday, the case resumed with MT Sports and Mosimane’s legal representative, Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, continuing with his closing arguments.

Ngcukaitobi focused on the grounds of discrimination against MT Sports’ Managing Director and wife of Mosimane, Moira Tlhagale, as he also highlighted the inconsistency of Sundowns in demanding the repayment of part of the agent’s commission.

"It is true that there is a reference in the second paragraph to the agent's commission but the most important point is that there was never a demand for that agent's commission to be repaid and therefore this was perfectly consistent with the understanding of a defendense that the agreement entailed a release from the contract as late as the 2nd of October,” Ngcukaitobi said.

“And this is now a letter which is dated the 2nd of October 2020 and it appears at 011/281.

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The complaint in that letter is at paragraph four of that letter it is about the fact that Miss Tlhagale is accused of having used a number of employees to breach their contracts of employment to join Al Ahly.

“And there are specifically mentioned there, Kabelo Rangoaga, Musi Matlaba who had resigned and were going to join Al Ahly. There is no demand there for the payment of the money."

Sundowns have taken MT Sports, to court as they aim to recover part of the R8.6 million in agent fees paid when Mosimane signed a new four-year contract at the end of the 2019/2020 season.  Mosimane also left for Al Ahy in September 2020, having served only two months of that new contract.

Ngcukaitobi also challenged Sundown's legal representative, Senior Counsel Vincent Maleka, who asserted that Mosimane had signed the contract with Sundowns because he was desperate, referring to the first contract when he joined the club in 2012. He returned to Tlhagale's testimony, where she explained how she got to sign the contract in question in 2020.

"Your ladyships recollection was that she signed the contract because Mr Mosimane wanted to coach and the management resisted that suggestion and said that, that reason applied only to the first contract where he had been without a job for six months and he had been fired by Bafana Bafana, the national team,” he added.

“And it did not apply to this particular contract where Mr Maleka says with the greatest of respect Miss Tlhagale, you had the option, you were not forced to sign this contract at all, no one held a gun against your head and said sign this contract.

“Then the response is, she says nobody had a gun on my head my lady but I had no option but to sign the contract. Again, because the club didn't want to renegotiate and move this clause which obviously now I found is also is inconsistent with other agents."

As he focused on the discrimination part of their plea, Ngcukaitobi also compared MT Sport’s contract with the other two agents who had coaches contracted to Sundowns simultaneously.

This was Steve Kapelushnik (Rulani Mokwena’s agent) and Mike Makaab (Manqoba Mngqithi’s agent). Ngcukaitobi told the court that the other two agents didn't have a clawback clause and referenced why this was not an industry or Sundowns practice, as the club had claimed.