It is clear that Pitso and Sundowns are still at odds. One would have thought that after all the trophies that Pitso Mosimane led Mamelodi Sundowns to win, and the huge amount of money they paid him during that time, would lead to a happy ending. Not so in the case of Mamelodi Sundowns versus Pitso Mosimane. Sundowns, one of the richest clubs in Africa are suing Mosimane, one of the richest coaches in Africa for R8million rand. As they say, money does not necessarily buy you happiness!
According to the Sunday World, who claim to have seen minutes of the legal documents, Sundowns are demanding that Mosimane’s agents pay back the R8 million they paid in commission for Mosimane signing an extension to his contract. Downs are suing both Mosimane and his agents Tlhagale Sports Marketing and Management. An interesting twist to the tale is that the Tlhagale agency is in fact owned by Pitso’s wife Moira.
At first glance the facts of the matter are very clear. Pitso signed an extension to his contract and for that, his agent wife received an R8 million fee. If Pitso fulfilled the contract from his side, there would be no cause for complaint from Sundowns. There would also be no problem if the club fired him. However, Pitso resigned and did not fulfil his contractual obligations, and therefore, it would seem in that case Sundowns would have a strong level of justification in demanding their money back.
On the other hand, Mosimane and his agent are claiming that in a meeting between owner Patrice Motsepe and Pitso Mosimane, they agreed that the contract was terminated by mutual agreement and that the clubs’ public statement supported that.
The big weakness in Pitso’s argument, is that it seems he does not have it in writing that Sundowns agreed to the termination jointly, which is very different to accepting the resignation. Secondly, the press statement that Sundowns issued at the time, which quotes Motsepe, while somewhat vague, does certainly not state that the termination was mutually agreed.
What is certain, is that both Sundows and Mosimane were good for each other, and that the big winners in this will be the lawyers. Mind you, the costs are a pittance to Motsepe who has less to lose. The risk for the Mosimane’s is that they lose and have to pay Sundowns costs, their own legal fees, and have to pay the money back. Settling their differences out of court seems like the best option.
What do you think?