Mike Makaab Fair Play
On page 12 of this week’s edition, Benedict Vilakazi, in his ‘My Story’ feature, alleges that his former agent Mike Makaab did not inform him of an offer that his then Danish club Aalborg had made to keep him in Denmark when a family crisis struck. He goes on to say that his former club Orlando Pirates were given the wrong information about his salary demands by Makaab. As always, it’s Soccer Laduma’s duty to afford a ‘Fair Play ‘opportunity when allegations of this nature are made against another party.
On receiving an offer from Aalborg…
“Absolute nonsense! At no stage did anybody at Aalborg contact me to make an offer of that sort. They were very disappointed that Benedict had decided to come back to South Africa because they had paid a sizable amount of money for him. And, by the way, I worked my absolute socks off to get Dr (Irvin) Khoza to agree to give Vilakazi an opportunity to play in Europe because he was a key player at Orlando Pirates. Benedict, of his own choice, decided to come back. Yes, he did have family problems, but there was never ever an offer put in front of me. I was never made aware of any offer either from him or from the club. Whoever has made that statement, whoever has come forward and said an offer was made, it’s just not true. And why has it taken so long for something like this to surface? Again, I want to say, nobody at the club made that offer. In fact, once they realised that Benedict no longer wanted to stay in Denmark, they made the decision to release him. And, by the way, Benedict never ever called me regarding that, so I don’t understand what he is talking about.”
On inflating Vilakazi’s wage demands to Pirates
“When Benedict Vilakazi wanted to come home, the first club that I contacted was Orlando Pirates, and Benedict Vilakazi said to me, ‘Pirates will never pay me what I’m looking for.’ I said to Benedict, ‘Benedict, there is a bigger picture. That longevity in your football career can be more important at times than immediate financial gain.’ He did not want to entertain it. I made Stan Tshabalala and Dr Khoza absolutely aware of the fact that Benedict either was going to get paid what he wanted, or he was going to join Mamelodi Sundowns. So, you know what, you can call him a blatant liar if that is what he said. Ordinarily, I’m not someone who wants to defend my actions in the public domain. However, these are serious allegations. They are allegations that paint me as somebody that is dishonest.
The other thing people need to know is when he wasn’t getting game-time at Sundowns, he initially asked us to help him get a loan move. But it was at a time when his contract with us was coming to an end and so we asked him to extend it. He then replied that he was at an age and stage of his life where he no longer needed an agent. We told him we were sad because we had worked together for so long, but (that) we accept it. And then you don’t have to ask me, what happened to his career after that?”