Gunners’ Mascom Top 8 prize money hijacked

The past weekend victors Extension Gunners are actually still reeling from a hijack of their Mascom Top 8 prize money of P150 000 which was used to pay a long standing debt. For the past seven years, the Lobatse giants have been cowed under a cloud of debt in the form of salary arrears and other employment benefits for one Nelson Olebile who had served them as Assistant Coach to different head coaches.

It took the intervention of the courts of law to finally see the P74 000 owed to Olebile finally paid after the two parties had parted ways on December 18 of 2012. At the time, Gunners’ management felt that the salary arrears that had accumulated over Olebile’s five years of loyal service were becoming too much to bear and decided it was best they tell Olebile to stop working for the club. The termination had nothing to do with Olebile’s performance but purely because they could not pay him owing to the club’s dry coffers. The club could neither afford to pay him even after terminating their relationship with him, prompting Olebile to report the matter to the labour court.

Gunners’ management represented by then Secretary General Lucas Seitshiro and Mosimanegape Kgolele handed him the termination letter which clearly spelt out that the club had no money to pay him and that he had to forthwith stop training with the club and hand over their equipment. This was immediately after Olebile had just been engaged in a training session that prepared the team for a weekend game. Olebile did not take kindly to the manner of instruction and immediately demanded his dues, which Gunners could not give at the time. Feeling insulted by the unsealed letter that was not even in an envelope, he continued fighting for his money while the club’s management played hide and seek by always saying they would talk, to him to no avail. The Industrial Court twice called Gunners’ management for mediation on February 28 and March 24 last year but with none of them attending.  The matter was then set for hearing on September 3 but the club did not show up again.

“A ruling was made that Gunners pay me by September 27 last year, which never happened. A writ of summons was then made to attach the club’s movables but then again there was nothing to attach. The only thing which was available for the sheriff was to attach either their gate takings or go for their end of season league monies. It was then that attention was shifted to their prize money from the Mascom Top 8,” Olebile told BG Sport. The prize money had been credited into Gunners’ FNB account and last month the sheriff furnished the bank with a court’s directive instructing the bank to pay him P74 000 being settlement for Olebile and P9 000 being the sheriff’s charges. “I can confirm that I have now received my money from Gunners and currently my case with them is a closed chapter. I really had not wanted this matter to end up in courts and I tried to sit down with them so that we negotiate but they took me for granted.

Now I am happy everything is sorted out,” Olebile told BG Sport recently.  Debrian Moyo, the sheriff involved, also confirmed that the matter has now been settled. The current Gunners’ Chairman Kitso Dlamini chose not to say much on the matter, only saying they sat and discussed the matter with Olebile in a meeting they held in December. It turns out that at that meeting, the Gunners management had begged Olebile to lend them part of the money he had been awarded as they were finding it difficult to pay their players who were going for the Christmas break.

Dlamini declined to say what the December meeting was about but Olebile confirmed they were pleading with him to lend them some part of his money. He could neither say more  on the said request. Olebile has not ruled out the possibility of going to work again with the Gunners’ management saying, “I am a coach. Our differences was only with payments, and I can never say no when such an opportunity comes knocking again.”