Pretoria Callies respond to accusations of fraudulent ID change
Pretoria Callies chairman Moses Malada has described the complaint lodged by relegated La Masia as a desperate attempt to save their skin.
La Masia have been relegated to the SAFA ABC Motsepe League after finishing 15th in the Motsepe Foundation Championship in the recently concluded 2023/24 season.
However, the club has taken a legal route to try to save its status. This is after it formally lodged a complaint with the PSL against Marumo Gallants and Pretoria Callies.
They claim Gallants broke the rules by using a player who has previously played for two other teams this season. They also accuse Callies player Xolani Sithole of fraudulently changing his identification from being an overage player to qualifying as an Under-23 player.
FARPost has gathered that the matter has been referred to SAFA for arbitration.
MOSES MALADA RUBBISHES A COMPLAINT FROM MOTSEPE FOUNDATION CHAMPIONSHIP RIVALS LA MASIA
“As far as we are concerned, La Masia have served us with papers. But we have not been charged by the league. So to us, it’s still a complaint by La Masia, but not a case,” Malada told FARPost.
“But as a club, we think it’s a desperate move by La Masia. When they failed to make it during the season. To think the league can be won at the boardroom like that. Everybody is spending money and doing things according to the rules and regulations of the league.
“…Maybe they are desperate because, if you are used to bribing everything to your way up when things like this happen, you think of what you have lost. Which was really not necessary to do except to play football. That’s when desperation kicks in,” he added.
PRETORIA CALLIES CONFIDENT THEY PLAYED BY THE BOOK REGARDING XOLANI SITHOLE IDENTIFICATION
“We knew what really transpired because he did everything by the book to actually get his documents in order. It’s not an ID that is coming from somewhere in Sunnyside or whatever that you might think of. It’s an ID that is coming from home affairs.
“I think had the process not been done very well he would be worried about the team having to lose through him. I don’t think there is a player who would want to find himself going through that. But in this instance, because we know there is no case that makes us and him to be comfortable to say let the law take its course and see,” he said.
“These are the things that happen on a daily basis. If you check in our villages, how many women got denied pensions and their kids are earning pensions? Then they would have to go and rectify their IDs for them to get their pensions. There is no way that they would say the ID is not correct because these people were just correcting things that were not corrected. So it’s part and parcel of those things that happen in our black families. Hence, I am saying there is nothing to worry about from our side.
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