Mamelodi under fire
Asegment of some Township Rollers supporters have come out guns blazing on social media, calling for the exit of the club’s Chief Executive Officer, Bennett Mamelodi.
The animosity has been brewing for some time now as the club has failed to hit expected heights in recent years. Some frustrated and disgruntled group of fans have often pointed fingers to the man in the driving seat at the club, arguing that Mamelodi’s administration of the club is heading south. Over the weekend, one of the supporters took to social media, Facebook, to do enquiries and usher some of his grievances regarding the operations of the club, a post which saw altercations between the supporter and the club CEO.
Thapelo ‘ Mogry’ Mogami, as identified on Facebook, initially uploaded a post seeking the contact numbers of the club president, Jagdish Shah.
“I was just looking for answers, there is a lot that has been happening at the club that as supporters we are not entirely happy about,” Mogami told BG Sport. When asked to state specifically why they want their CEO out of the club, Mogami indicated that, since the arrival of Mamelodi, the club has been moving on a downward spiral. “Ever since he arrived from Jwaneng Galaxy, our recruitment has been bad and those close to development shared that he is the one in charge of transfers, his reluctance to bring in top quality players is seriously worrisome. The club has not won anything and other teams have now moved past our levels. In a nutshell, he takes very unpopular decisions for the team, for example he fired Thabo Motang and told us it was the spiritual owners of the team, I for one can never accept that,” he said.
Last year, Township Rollers were involved in many cases, amongst them, the Onkarabile Ratanang registration saga, Mamelodi’s suspension by the Botswana Football League ( BFL) in the wake of Royal Aria chaos, just to mention a few, a bad reflection of the club under his close watch, some supporters have argued.
“We want him to leave the club, we have people
who are capable to lead the club, Sidney Magagane, the club’s general manager, he is Township Rollers through and through, his loyalty and commitment to the team can’t be questioned, he has the best interest of the team at heart,” Mogami stated. When contacted for a response, Mamelodi declined to comment and only stated that he will not give the matter, “relevance it doesn’t deserve.” The club held its annual general assembly over the weekend and there are strong arguments that supporters who are not happy with the proceedings of the club, should have either notified their branches or voiced their displeasure at the said gathering.
The Blues chairman, Walter Kgabung admitted that there is a small group of supporters of the club who appear not in support of the CEO. “There is a group of Township Rollers supporters who appear to be against our CEO, as far as we are concerned, we have no problems with our supporters. We were with the supporters on Saturday, the whole day, we discussed matters relating to the club and we were all unanimous that Township Rollers has to return to its rightful place in local football, not where we are at the moment.
He said the position of Mamelodi was mentioned in passing, but we requested the general membership to give evidence of their grievances against the CEO; we will take the necessary steps, as we are not afraid to take decisions. They have promised to provide the necessary information going forward,” Kgabung shared.
He encouraged supporters to follow the necessary club structures to voice their grievances.
“As an employee, it is possible to make mistakes, and there are issues with some of the signings he made, we assessed the situation and terminated their contracts. We make mistakes and we are also the ones to make things right, arguments on Facebook are not the solution, people must follow the necessary channels,” the club chairman said. In addition, he highlighted that they have engaged with Mamelodi and urged him to refrain from engaging on negative arguments about the club on social media.