Marumo Gallants ordered to pay over R3 million of Moroka Swallows debt

Marumo Gallants ordered to pay over R3 million of Moroka Swallows debt

Moroka Swallows’ financial woes, which led to the sale of their Premier Soccer League topflight status, have come back to haunt Marumo Gallants.

South African Football Players Union (SAFPU) acting president Tebogo Munyai has revealed to SABC Sport that, through the PSL Dispute Resolution Chamber, they have managed to recover more than R3 million in monies owed by Swallows to the players.

Munyai says this case is part of the mass strike action that resulted in Swallows' fixtures being cancelled before the players were axed in December last year.

"We recently won cases, we received a verdict that favoured the players and us as an organisation, where Mbulelo Strydom Wambi and [Tshediso] Patjie, as well as Tumelo Mangweni, where they were all awarded monies, such as outstanding salaries and unfair dismissal.

"You'd remember during the strike, they said players were engaging in an illegal strike, but virtually now the very same club that says players were in an illegal strike, the same player won the very same case through SAFPU."

READ: Ex-Swallows employees take Marumo Gallants to PSL court

Munyai explains that Gallants will have to pay these monies owed to the players, as per the sale agreement between them and Swallows.

"We've got facts on the table that players were not on strike. A lot of them had been reinstated by Moroka Swallows, but the whole mess remains with Marumo Gallants," he added.

"Fortunately, during the transfer of the status from Moroka Swallows management to Marumo Gallants, we were involved as a Union to make sure everything runs smoothly.

"We had numerous meetings with the president of the club, Mr Sello Abram, and fortunately we managed to arrest a lot of issues where players were owed money – a lot of them managed to get their outstanding money.

"But there were other issues that were hanging, such as outstanding salaries, such as players dismissed unfairly, hence why you see these cases of Wambi, Patjie, and Mangweni have been won.

"So that's a milestone for us, we believe that there's a way forward going into the new year for us."