What a Swallows mess!

Moroka Swallows Football Club find themselves embroiled in a nasty dispute between them and their players, which resulted in the club failing to honour two league fixtures towards the end of last year, against Mamelodi Sundowns and Golden Arrows respectively. It is history that the PSL has subsequently hit the Dube Birds hard in the pocket, with a R1 million fine – although R600 000 of the fine is suspended for 24 months – and six points forfeited from the two games.

This emanates from the club’s players ‘taking no prisoners’ and ‘putting their foot down’, reportedly demanding their unpaid salaries. But there have been two different versions of the account of events depending on who is speaking. The club alleges that the players wanted to be paid their December salaries on the 22nd of December, so that by Christmas, they would have already received their salaries. Assuming this was the bone of contention between the two parties with neither side willing to back down, this should be a request rather than a demand that would see the player going on strike, as it is completely against their contract of engagement with the club, which – according to the club – clearly states that they would be getting their salaries on the last day of the month. So, the players would be misguided and shooting themselves in the foot if they were to make such a demand and go as far as putting their tools down. If this is proved to be true, the players clearly have no leg to stand on and the club’s decision to dismiss them will be unquestionable.

The club’s lawyer, Leruma Thobejane, confirmed this in Soccer Laduma edition 1358, citing, in part, as far as he knows there were no outstanding salaries and everything was above board. He further revealed that the only issue was the players wanting or expecting to be paid in advance. Going through the learned Club representative’s revolving column, one could easily notice the ‘As far as I know’ and draw the conclusion that his version of events couldn’t be seen or interpreted as gospel, lest there was information kept away from him or that he was not aware of. On any legal ground, that statement may not necessarily be true because it is only as far as he knows. At no stage did he categorically dismiss the claim that salaries were owed to the players and, according to him, the only issue was the players expecting to be paid in advance. While we may not know how much each Swallows player earns, no one can really make us believe that the players went on a ‘tools down’ in protest for the club refusing to pay them a few days earlier than their agreed pay date. That would be the craziest demand and action from the players’ point of view. Also, even if the players had requested that and it was not permissible from the club’s point of view, there’s no way the players would have gone on strike just because the club refused to do something that was not even on their contracts. Players have no right to demand an advance on their salary. When you look at that, you are tempted to dismiss the club’s allegation as absolute nonsense.

The Players’ Union came out and claimed that the club promised to settle the outstanding salaries by the 23rd of December – when that didn’t happen, the players then decided to take action. Now, this is the second version of the events and it alleges that the players were owed money by the club, but they continued to play because they were promised a settlement on a specific date as per a quote attributed to the club chairman, David Mogashoa. When that did not happen, according to the Players’ Union, that’s when the players went on a strike. Of the two scenarios, it takes no genius to figure out which one is more believable than the other. Without casting any aspersions on anyone, either someone is not telling the truth or someone is a good liar. At face value, it is easy to believe that it would have taken more than just the club’s refusal to make an advance payment for the players to go on strike. Surely something serious must have happened for the players to do what they did by not honouring their contracts and refusing to play the two league fixtures. 23 players have since been confirmed as fired by the Dube Birds, with the number expected to increase pending the outstanding disciplinary cases with some of the players. This needs to be sorted out as soon as possible because it makes a mockery of the club. It also makes a mockery of the League because this should not be happening.

There was a time when Moroka Swallows was one of the best teams in the league before their eventual relegation into obscurity. When Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, made it clear that he was working on reviving the sleeping giant of South African football, he made his intentions clear. Together with his business partners, they saw to it that Swallows was back in the elite league against all odds. The football fraternity couldn’t be happier to finally see the Birds resuscitated. This is not just any other team but one of the teams with such a rich history. One of the teams that impacted our football positively and produced some of the best players we’ve ever seen, not to mention the rivalry they shared with Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs. It was such a breath of fresh air to see the Dobsonville-based club back in action. It was a tremendous story to tell because the ‘prodigal son’ had ‘come home’. But the shenanigans of allegations of unpaid salaries at the club and the financial constraints have been well-documented and something that needs to be sorted out sooner than later. The club’s name cannot continue to be dragged through the mud like this. This goes to show that people who want to get involved in football, and want to run clubs, need to be vetted properly because these things should not be happening at this level. It’s a shame to see what is happening at Swallows at the moment. It is something that the Dube Birds do not deserve to go through.

There’s no way the players would just go on strike because the club didn’t want to pay them on the 22nd when their contract clearly state that their payday would be the last day of the month. Now they have a date with Cape Town City next Tuesday, February 13th. The club has made it clear and released a list of players who have been dismissed after the DC hearing. They’ve also made it clear that that list is not complete because there are players that are yet to appear in front of the DC, which means from the 23 there could be more players dismissed. Who is going to take to the field when they play the Citizens with the transfer window now closed? Who is going to represent the club? Tshegofatso Mabasa’s loan move has been cut short because he’s back now at Orlando Pirates even before the season ends. There were reported issues surrounding outstanding payments even for him, which goes to show that there is more to Swallows’ struggles than what we have been told. The sooner they sort themselves out and get to the bottom of their problems, the better because, once again, this is not right for the league. It is also not right for the club and it’s also not right for the players and their wellbeing. Coach Steve Komphela left Mamelodi Sundowns, where he had a stable job, to come and play his part in getting Swallows among the top teams, where they rightfully belong. The last thing he would have expected was to find himself in a position where he doesn’t know whether he is coming or going at his club. So, this is a really, really bad and sad state of affairs and something that we don’t want to see from a team as prestigious and big as Moroka Swallows FC. Phew! What a Swallows mess!

Congratulations to coach Hugo Broos, his technical team and players for reaching the semi-finals of the 2023 Afcon held in Cote d’Ivoire. By the time you read this column, they would have hopefully defeated Nigeria to book their place in the final against the winner between Ivory Coast and DR Congo, on Sunday.

We’re so proud that even though we put the paper to bed before the semifinal, we didn’t think twice about putting Ronwen Williams on the cover following his exploits and we wish them all the best whether playing the final or third place play-off this weekend.