The legal dispute between Cape Town Spurs and its wantaway trio took a sudden turn on Monday evening when the club issued a strong condemnation of a PSL Dispute Resolution Chamber ruling.
The decision, which declared winger Asanele Velebayi a free agent and cleared his path to join Kaizer Chiefs, has been labelled a “legal and logical catastrophe” by the Urban Warriors, who warn it could have dire consequences for youth development in South African football.
The saga began when Velebayi, along with teammates Luke Baartman and Liam Bern, sought to be released from their contracts following Spurs’ relegation to the ABC Motsepe League. Their legal representatives argued that, according to NSL rules, a club’s drop into amateur status automatically voids professional contracts, granting players free agency.
The PSL DRC, comprised of panel members Mosupi Mashele, Amanda Vilakazi, and Adv. Saleem Seedat sided with Velebayi.
In its award, the panel found that the contract Spurs were relying on was no longer of professional status and was therefore void. This decision effectively paved the way for Velebayi to finalise a move to Chiefs. Amakhosi are also monitoring Baartman while Bern plans to switch to AmaZulu FC.
CT SPURS’ FIERCE REBUTTAL: A LEGAL ‘CATASTROPHE’
The Cape Town club challenged the DRC’s reasoning, accusing the panel of a contradictory and flawed legal analysis.
The club’s statement claims the panel initially agreed with a prior ruling that relegation does not automatically grant free agency, only to reverse course just paragraphs later. They stated that the “ordinary grammatical meaning” of the rules means relegation alone is sufficient.
According to CT Spurs, this inconsistency represents a “gross, reviewable error” that creates crippling uncertainty for clubs across the country. The club’s core legal argument rests on the principle of pacta sunt servanda—that a contract is a contract—and that the players’ agreements explicitly stated they were “not terminable on notice.”
Beyond the legal arguments, the CT Spurs statement focused heavily on the economic fallout of the ruling. The club, renowned for its academy system, detailed the immense financial investment required to nurture a young talent. According to figures verified by the club’s auditors, the input cost for a single player who has been in the academy for 10 years is a minimum of R8 million.
ALLEGATIONS OF TAPPING UP AND DELAYED JUSTICE BY CAPE TOWN SPURS
The club’s business model, it argues, relies on the professional contract to protect this investment. By securing a player on a long-term deal, the club can either retain their services or generate a future transfer fee to reinvest in the next generation. The DRC ruling, Spurs says, “rips that model to shreds,” signalling to development clubs that their long-term investment is worthless.
The former PSL club stated that the contracts of its remaining 15 players are now in jeopardy, with their futures thrown into chaos by the decision. They further raised concerns about potential “tapping up,” citing what they claimed were letters from the players’ representatives admitting they had “secured employment” elsewhere before their contracts were officially terminated.
Alexi Efstathiou, Spurs’ CEO, said that someone had misled or unduly influenced the young players. He also clarified that the club was not making a direct accusation against any specific team. Efstathiou later stated that the club’s stance is based on principle.
“We know what the player is valued at. He has a contract with our club, and that needs to be respected, no matter the club.”
Further fuelling the club’s frustration is the delayed ruling for Amajita star Baartman. While Velebayi’s hearing was on July 4, 2025, Baartman’s hearing on July 21, 2025, has yet to yield a verdict. Spurs expressed concern that this delay is inexplicable. He believes it fuels suspicions about the consistency and fairness of the dispute resolution process.
With a potential appeal or arbitration on the horizon, Efstathiou confirmed the club is not ready to back down. “We will ascertain after consulting with the legal team the possibility of arbitration and appeal,” he said.
Efstathiou also noted that their next steps will depend on the outcomes of the still-pending Baartman and Bern cases.
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