Former Bidvest Wits chairman Raymond Hack insists the 99-year-old history of Wits won’t be wiped out after Bidvest sold off their top- flight status, adding the club will aim to earn their way back to the PSL.
The Clever Boys will not be in the top flight next season after Bidvest, the main shareholders, decided to sell their status to National First Division (NFD) side Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM), pending PSL approval.
Despite the sale, Hack believes the club won’t perish but be kept alive by amateurs and the fabled youth system.
‘Wits University is not dead as yet. They sold the Premier League status,’ Hack told IOL.
‘But we will still continue with our amateurs and all our juniors and if we have to build up to the Premier Soccer League, we will do that. You can’t destroy Wits University. Fortunately, we have a good relationship with the university,’ Hack said.
The club was previously known as Wits University, before changing the name to reflect new shareholders Bidvest. They have always been linked to the Milpark tertiary institution, having been formed there in 1921.
‘We have the facilities and the players. Kaizer Motaung’s son [Kaizer Jr] came through Wits. Jomo Sono’s son [Bamuza] came through Wits,’ he said.
‘We’ve got the biggest nursery in the entire country. We’ve spoken to the university and they are in agreement that we will continue with our amateurs. We won’t let it die because the sponsor sold the franchise.
‘If something comes up, we will look into it but we are not a type of club that goes out to buy success,’ he added.
‘We’ve been existing for 99 years, even when we got relegated we came up the following season. You don’t buy success, you earn it on the field of play.
‘Maybe it is better to build yourself up from the beginning. But, in any case, it will never be my decision but people at the university. I’ve associated with Wits for 50 years.’
Hack felt disdain at the conclusion of the deal in secret and behind the backs of the people working at the club.
‘This was done secretively. I had to ask why. If it is not about money, what is it about?’ he asked.
‘But it is not my club. When we had it, we did it because of the love we have for the game. I don’t like the manner in which it was done. I can’t say anything.
‘I feel for the coach who will have to motivate the players going forward with the last 11 games. They don’t know what their future is. It is not right.’
