De Sa now a part owner

Head coach Roger de Sa admitted yesterday he is part of a consortium that has taken control of Platinum Stars, after Royal Bafokeng Holdings announced this week that they had sold the club.

The Premier Soccer League ratified the sale at a PSL executive meeting on January 25.

“I am part of the entity that bought the club. There are four of us, two guys in Cape Town and one in Johannesburg,” De Sa told a press conference in Phokeng, while also announcing that the new owners were a company called Rawat Petroleum, a Sudanese petroleum company.

The cost of the sale was R22.5 million, with Royal Bafokeng Holdings explaining in a statement why they sold the club.

“We have managed to provide entertainment at the highest level of South African football in the North West Province and South Africa in general. The club also managed to collect silverware and carry our pride across Africa during its Caf Confederation Cup campaign,” they said in a statement.

“However, due to the ever-increasing socioeconomic challenges and competition in top- flight football, keeping the club afloat and competitive has not been easy. To ensure that the legacy of the club continues, we decided to sell and give an opportunity to new owners with different expertise, new ideas and energy to take the club forward.”

De Sa also confirmed that the technical staff would remain the same until the end of the season, and that the club would remain in Phokeng until then too.