Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila boss Masala Mulaudzi has revealed how he managed to buy the PSL status of Bidvest Wits.
After the South African football public was shocked when the businessman confirmed the purchase, Mulaudzi has since revealed that the club was never up for sale and that he was offered the chance to buy the club.
‘Fact of the matter is that Bidvest Wits was not being sold, it was never put on sale,’ Mulaudzi told SABC Radio Phalalhala FM.
‘It was due to my good relations with Bidvest not only on football matters, but these are people who teach me work outside of football business. This was just a gift that was given to me. I also did not want to buy it because it was never on sale, and I was just the one they trusted who can take the club forward,’ he said.
‘That’s why even when we started the whole process [of negotiations] started leaking in the media. Some people went to Wits and offered to buy the club [but] were told the club was not on sale.’
Speaking on the current players in the Wits squad, Mulaudzi said: ‘I don’t want to talk a lot on the issue of players but the fact is we have bought the Bidvest status with all its players. If you hear of a player being sold, it means the player is being sold with our permission.
‘So, it’s us who decide which player is being sold because we can’t afford some of them – there are players who are on R400,000, R300,000 and R200,000 per month – something that is unusual in Limpopo to find a club paying those kind of salaries. So, we are allowing them to go and we will remain with those that we can afford.’
The Limpopo-based businessman also confirmed that the club can’t afford to keep Gavin Hunt on as head coach next season.
‘Gavin Hunt is one of the most respected coaches we have as a country. He should actually be coaching Bafana Bafana or in Europe now, so we cannot afford him as a club. We know he gained some of his coaching experience in Venda but he has outgrown this level now. So, as much as we want him to be our coach we felt we can’t afford him.’
He added that the current Wits team will finish the season when the Absa Premiership resumes as they still have a chance to finish in the top three and book their place in the Caf Confederation Cup.
‘The current Wits team will finish the league this season, so if they finish in the top three as we would love them to, we will go compete in the Caf Confederations Cup. The same applies if they win the Nedbank Cup, and we will also go and play in the Caf Confederations Cup,’ Mulaudzi concluded.
