Pretoria Callies chairman Moses Malada has criticised Cape Town Spurs management for allegedly attempting to pressure him into selling his PSL status for R6 million in exchange for dropping their arbitration challenge.
CT Spurs faced a setback after SAFA’s arbitration dismissed their two protests against Kruger United and Pretoria Callies with costs. Last week, Spurs withdrew their legal challenge at the High Court and chose to await the outcome of a SAFA arbitration hearing.
The Urban Warriors finished the 2024/25 season in 15th place in the Motsepe Foundation Championship, resulting in their relegation to the ABC Motsepe League.
CT Spurs claimed that Kruger used an ineligible player, Osborn Maluleke, in a match they lost 2-1 to the Mpumalanga side in October 2024. They also alleged that Callies fielded another ineligible player, Sibusiso Khumalo, in a separate game where Spurs, reduced to 10 men and suffered a 2-1 defeat.
Furthermore, they argued that on June 27, 2024, the PSL approved the sale and renaming of Gallants to Leruma United. According to Article 14 of the NSL Handbook, this transfer was finalised based on Gallants’ acceptance as a going concern. CT Spurs contended that the employment contracts of Gallants’ staff, including players, were transferred to Leruma United before June 30, 2024.
Gallants issued the relevant clearance certificates, but Leruma United did not. As a result, the certificates issued to Khumalo on July 1, 2024, and Maluleke on August 8, 2024, were deemed invalid. This, CT Spurs argued, rendered the players ineligible to play for Callies and Kruger United.
CT SPURS ATTEMPTS TO BUY PRETORIA CALLIES FOR R6 MILLION
Contrary to widespread reports that CT Spurs were in talks to acquire Callies, Malada has clarified that the discussions never advanced. An upset Malada felt undermined when CT Spurs’ owners offered R6 million, despite a second-tier league status costing up to R12 million or R15 million.
“They came to us while the case [arbitration] was still going on; they wanted us to say, ‘let’s trade. You give us a team for R6 million, and then we withdraw the case’,” Malada told FARPost. “So, I told them, ‘No, no, even if I’m selling, I’m not going to sell it for R6 million. That’s not possible’.”
Attempts to reach CT Spurs’ CEO, Alexi Efstathiou, for a comment were unsuccessful, as his phone rang unanswered multiple times. He also did not respond to an SMS message sent to his phone.
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