Johannesburg - Deal or no deal? That is the question on soccer fans's lips after Premier Soccer League (PSL) chairman Irvin Khoza on Wednesday broke his silence on the potential sale of Free State Stars to Moroka Swallows, a club desperate to avoid extinction having been relegated from the top-flight two seasons ago and then down to the ABC Motsepe League from the National First Division (NFD) this year.
As it stands, there is currently no agreement for the league to approve, with Khoza giving a consortium led by Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi “until the end of the week” to finalise all the outstanding documents.
Those include being able to guarantee the employment contracts of the current playing personnel as well as revealing who the would-be directors of this “new” Swallows are.Lesufi, apparently jumping the gun and annoying Khoza and the rest of the PSL executive members, told a crowd that had gathered at the Ipelegeng Community Centre in Soweto on Sunday that the league would endorse the sale in three days’ time and that Swallows would be back in the Premier League.
“As we speak, we don’t know who these buyers are because we only know Mr Lesufi. We only have a trust, and they have an interesting name,” said Khoza.
“At the moment there is no deal as we are waiting to get information regarding the trustees and whether they have had any involvement in football in the preceding 12 months.Their financial viability also needs to be guaranteed. We also need written letters from players that they are protected even after the sale of the club. But we are yet to get that information for us to verify and do some due diligence to hold people accountable.”
Lesufi was unavailable for comment on Wednesday as his phone rang unanswered, but Khoza said the MEC had apologised for his remarks up to now about what was happening behind the scenes despite a supposed gag order being issued to all parties involved.
There was, however, still no clarity as to whether it is the same relegated side that will make a return to the PSL as Swallows next month.
And if this persists, Khoza said, the league will have no choice but to ignore any requests for a deal of this nature as it is pressed to conclude its fixtures for the 2016/17 season.
Asked if this pending purchase would make a mockery of the league that is said to be among the top 10 in the world in revenue at least, Khoza dismissed such suggestions and displayed a soft side when explaining why he thinks Mike Mokoena, the owner of Free State Stars, would want to move away from running a football club.
“He (Mokoena) is one of the longest serving members of this league and he got involved in other businesses, which take too much of his time. “And I am told that some family members also got involved in that construction industry,” the PSL chairman said.
“At some point he wanted to resign from the executive committee because he does not have enough time. This is why it was important for us to consider the application. What we heard from MEC Lesufi was a breath of fresh air.
“We still hope that he delivers what he has promised because the impact of non-performance as a messiah could hurt his brand. If it is indeed Swallows, because we are not sure at this stage, it will be a nice celebration because they turn 70 years next season and have an important history. If it wasn’t for Swallows and Orlando Pirates, there would be no PSL. They have a unique history.”
@superjourno
The Star