Sale of Wits a big blow for this devoted patron
● For long-serving club official George Mogotsi the sale of Bidvest Wits marks the end of an era that has shaped almost his entire adult life.
Mogotsi has served the 99-year-old institution, crying tears of joy and heartbreak for more than three decades in what, he says, has been an honour for a man who grew up playing dice on the corners of streets in Orlando, Soweto.
“With the passing of Free State Stars owner Mike Mokoena, a friend of mine and a fellow Methodist, the confirmation of the sale of Wits by club bosses on the same day Mokoena succumbed to death on Wednesday, feels like I’ve been hit by two huge double blows,” a deflated 60-year-old Mogotsi reflected this week.
Mogotsi, who started selling tickets at the Wits home ground in Milpark and rose to become non-executive director and GM at the club, said he understood the reasoning behind the sale of the club after chairperson Alan Fainman explained it to all the staff and players this week.
“It’s a business decision and there’s nothing more to it. They told us and I tried to put myself into their shoes. The news of the sale shattered me, but I understand,” said Mogotsi, who hopes to land a similar role of being a go-to man in one of the PSL clubs next season.
“I strongly believe in God and somehow I know that someone might come with a good offer for me. I want to believe there’s no one who doesn’t know who George is in SA football and they all know what I can offer.”
Fainman maintained that the purchase of the club by Limpopo businessman Masala Mulaudzi, which is speculated to be for about R35m-R40m, was an unsolicited offer
“but it was long coming”.
“From our perspective, we’ve been with the club for 14 years and no one will invest money for an indefinite time. In my view, the budget moved significantly, where we got to be the fourth most expensive club in the country.
“We’ve been very successful, but we did express a desire to exit the football club about a year-and-a-half ago. The [Bidvest] board just took a decision that if the offer comes, we’ll seriously consider it.”
Fainman said since gaining a 60% controlling share, the club never made a profit, but that’s not the reason they’ve pulled the plug.
“You can’t have a club with Thulani Hlatshwayo, Sifiso Hlanti and various other Bafana players in your team unless you pay them market-related salaries. So it was not about selling the club because the profits had dropped; we never made one rand. It has always made significant losses.
“We decided it’s the right time to look at all our sports sponsorships. We’re just looking at our position and sponsorship of sports generally and maybe we can do something differently with our business in the future.”
Fainman, who insisted it was irrelevant for him to disclose how much the club was sold for, said they apologised to the players and staff for keeping them in the dark while the speculation of the sale raged on in the media.
“Unfortunately, the buyer leaked information which they should not have. The staff should have heard it from me. The buyers were over the moon at having succeeded in getting the rights to the PSL position. I apologised on behalf of the buyer.”
There’s no one who doesn’t know who George is in football George Mogotsi
Bidvest Wits GM