09 Feb 2015

Sankoyo Bush Buck management says the team has addressed the long standing issue of players’ wages.

This followed a spirited protest by players, which led to them missing some training sessions in January.  The team had been struggling for sometime to meet its financial obligations.

The team manager, Odirile Sibanda, confirmed that due to financial constraints, the team struggled to pay players their full monthly wages. He stated that recently the players refused to get half of their wages demanding full amount for the month of January.  This led to players missing some of the training sessions. 

He, however, indicated that players had since been paid in full. He pointed out that the players were failing to appreciate financial constraints faced by the club. 

He said although the club had some funds at hand, they were not adequate to pay all the players in full.
Sibanda pointed an accusing finger at some sections of the media and supporters for misleading the players into believing that the team was making a lot of money through gate takings.

Sibanda explained that the money collected from gate takings was not sufficient to sustain the team as they paid 25 per cent to Botswana National Sports Council and five per cent to the premier league. Despite the team being in a tourism area, the industry had not been coming forth to support the team as would be expected.

The Ngurungu boys had been relying on financial assistance from the Sankoyo Tshwaragano Management Trust, the executive committee, grant from the premier league and some micro funders.

The head coach, Philani Mabhena said although the issue was administrative, it impacted negatively on the players as they were unable to train for some days.

Mabhena was optimistic that since the issue had been addressed, the players would gain their momentum as they prepared for the coming matches.
Meanwhile, the players wrote a letter to Sankoyo Tshwaragano Management Trust in which it was alleged they passed a motion of no confidence on the executive committee.

The players allegedly requested that some members of the executive committee be dropped as they were failing the team. The trust chairman, Haku Galesenngwe confirmed receiving a letter from players. He could not reveal the contents as he still had to meet with other members of the board and attend to it. ends