Former Pretoria Callies chairman Moses Malada, who recently sold the club’s Motsepe Foundation Championship status to Lerumo Lions, has revealed the actual cost of competing for honours.
Over the past few seasons, he has been linked with a potential sale of the club’s status, but has continued to retain ownership. Last week, Sibongisele Marokana’s Lions became the newest team in the second-tier, replacing Callies.
Malada has told FARPost that running a club in the National First Division is a “costly hobby.” The club gained promotion to the second-tier league in 2020.
“Unfortunately, the business isn’t as easy as one would have anticipated. I’ll give an example, every season you go in with expectations to get promotion and start competing in a lot of competitions or play in Africa, and now there’s the FIFA Club World Cup,” he told FARPost.
“I’m sitting with the transfer fees not paid for players who went to Betway Premiership clubs. How can I maintain our status in the league when we have contracts and produce players, but clubs don’t pay?
“Contracts exist, but people refuse to respect them. You need to navigate through lawyers to get what is due to you. You’ve sold for nothing, and they can’t come back to pay when they’ve sold for millions. That’s a serious challenge. There are issues where players are taken without proper processes because some teams feel they’re bigger than you.”
HOW MUCH MALADA FEELS ONE NEEDS TO COMPETE IN THE NFD
Some of Callies’ most significant sales were Oswin Appollis to Polokwane City FC, and the Bafana Bafana winger has since joined Orlando Pirates. The Romans also sold Sinoxolo Kwayiba to Chippa United, and he has joined Pirates. In the current transfer window, they lost Olerato Mandi to Sekhukhune United on a free transfer.
“It felt like I’m fighting a losing battle and creating unnecessary enemies… that demoralised me,” he added.
With a monthly grant of approximately R500,000, Malada revealed that club owners had to top up significantly to run smoothly.
“If you just want to stay afloat, not necessarily competing for honours, you’re looking at spending between R1 million-R1.5 million. If you want to compete, you’re looking at spending between R2.5 million to R3 million per month.”
The Pretoria-based businessman commended PSL chairman Dr Irvin Khoza and acting CEO Mato Madlala for their leadership in maintaining the league’s stability despite numerous challenges.
“Credit must be given to the chairman and the acting CEO; if the chairman weren’t as strong as he is, we wouldn’t be where we are as a league. He has done well to keep the league afloat.”
Meanwhile, he hinted that he was not entirely out of the game, suggesting he could develop a platform to support and “promote young talent.”
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