SUNDOWNS ‘RECKLESS’ IN DOLLY CONTRACT
THE verdict by the PSL’s Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) on the Mamelodi Sundowns versus Keagan Dolly case exposes the club’s “reckless” officials who renewed the player’s contract without reading it.
Sowetan is in possession of the 20-page ruling, which includes dramatic exchanges of both legal teams as they argued the case at the PSL offices in December.
How it all started
Late last year, Sundowns approached the PSL to seek rectification on the contract between them and Dolly. The main issue was the buyout clause, which was ß733 333 (R10.5-million). Sundowns, however, contended that the parties had actually agreed on £1.5-million (R25-million) when the player signed his first contract with the club in Cape Town in 2014. The figure ß733 333 was therefore a “mistake”.
Kerusha Govender, employed as a legal officer by Sundowns, was tasked with drafting the contract;
Dolly’s intermediaries Paul Mitchell and a certain Mr Wasserfall handled the talks;
Yogesh Singh, Sundowns’ legal advisor who was instructed by Patrice Motsepe to set the buyout clause at £1.5-million (R25million) when Singh travelled to Cape Town to meet Dolly and his representatives. A “Mr Goosen” represented Doly at the DRC hearing.
In August 2016, Sundowns received an offer of ß750 000 (R10.8-million) from Greek side, Olympiacos, which was just above Dolly’s buyout clause. Sundowns then realised there was a mistake with the buyout clause.
The club then approached the PSL to seek rectification because the parties had agreed on £1.5 million.
Sundowns’ case relied on “common error” which, the club said, occurred when the parties signed the amended contract on August 3 2015
It emerged during the hearing that when Dolly first signed in 2014, Ms Govender was asked to prepare the contract and used a template, which had been used for other players. This would explain why the ß733 333 figure was in the contract instead of £1.5-million
The findings
The DRC found that it was not in dispute, that the parties had agreed (in 2014) that the buyout clause fee would be £1.5-million. The buyout clause of ß733 333 remained in the contract because of the carelessness of Ms Govender and Mr Singh. Neither Govender nor Singh read the contract, but proceeded to sign it.
“The truth is that there was a common agreement on the buyout fee of £1.5-million (in 2014) which continued when the parties signed another contract (in 2015).
“For these reasons the application for rectification of the 2015 contract must succeed,” added the verdict.