Baroka players accuse club of dribbling them over pay

Baroka is the latest local club embroiled in the embarrassing nonpayment of salaries saga — sources allege players and staff were paid only half of their December earnings.

The sources include two players who spoke on condition of anonymity. They confirmed on Monday that Bakgaga paid only 50% of December salaries, though the club’s management denies this, saying it had paid the December salary in two tranches.

Baroka are third on the Motsepe Foundation Championship table with 27 points, three behind leaders Orbit College after 17 outings.

“It’s very tough because our kids have to return to school now and we don’t have money because we only got 50% of our salaries in December. The club promised to settle the remaining 50% on January 5 but they haven’t done so yet,” said the first player, who asked not to be named.

The second player also laid bare his financial distress. “My budget is messed up now because I had to dig into my savings to pay for my car and the rent. We were told that on January 5 we will get our money but the club hasn’t paid yet.

“They keep telling us that their sponsor hasn’t paid them so there’s nothing they can do but rumours say the sponsor has already paid, so they are taking us for a ride,” said the second player.

Baroka team manager Richard Mashabane insisted everyone has been paid. “We’ve paid all the players and everyone working at the club. I really don’t know where this comes from. We paid the first 50% on December 20 and the other on December 30,” Mashabane said.

Quizzed why Baroka paid salaries in two instalments, Mashabane said it didn’t want the players to spend all the money recklessly during the festive season, insisting Baroka is not in a financial crisis. 

“Remember most of our players are Under-23, so we thought we can’t give them all the money during the festive season ... we were actually trying to help them because we know what can happen during the festive season. We really don’t have financial problems,” Mashabane said.

In December Moroka Swallows failed to honour two Premier Soccer League fixtures when their players refused to play without pay.