Royal Eagles players may find themselves out in the cold if they allegedly don’t agree to a salary cut as proposed by CEO Morgan Mammila, Goal has exclusively been informed.
However, the club has denied these allegations, believing their method to terminate contracts is legitimate and is due to poor performance.
According to sources within the club, the management has already told certain players to sign documents binding them to settle for less or face the exit.
“The players are being forced to sign this document that will see them earn less money," said one source. "For instance, players who are earning R12 000 will go down to R9 000 – that’s a salary cut of R3 000 and these players still have to pay tax and other things.
"The players are being taken for a ride here. This is exploitation at its best. I’m not sure if this is even legal because these players have existing contracts.”
Another source revealed one of the players, who cannot be mentioned, has already gone AWOL in protest of the ill-treatment shown by Royal Eagles bosses.
“One player has left the clubhouse and we don’t know where he is and the club doesn't know his whereabouts," the source continued. "He is certainly not happy with how the club wants to do things. We are told every day that we should sign those documents or our contracts will be terminated."
According to our informants, the Royal Eagles management has told the players the club is having financial problems and therefore cannot keep up with paying the salaries as per their contracts.
If Royal Eagles go ahead with cutting the players’ salaries, the players believe the club would be in breach of contract and could find themselves in hot water with Fifa.
A third individual who didn’t want his identity revealed as he’s afraid of losing his job at Royal Eagles, believes these problems could be the reason for many changes behind the scenes. Both coach Morena Ramoreboli and CEO Richard Makhoba recently left the club.
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“It now makes sense to me as to why coach Morena left us soon after Richard Makhoba," the individual told Goal. "They probably didn’t have a choice because the conditions are bad here. There are days when we don’t even get food from the club yet this is what we were promised and it’s there in our contracts."
Royal Eagles owner Sbu Mpisane referred all the questions to club CEO Morgan Mammila when contacted by Goal, saying he’s in the Gauteng province and has no knowledge of the day-to-day running of the club.
“Please contact our CEO Morgan [Mammila]. He will give you all the answers you need. I am in Gauteng. I left the running of the club in his capable hands just like I used to do with Makhoba [who resigned two weeks ago]," said Mpisane.
When contacted by Goal, Mammila denied all the allegations levelled against the club, but he did confirm all the players were told to shape up or ship out.
“Players will always come up with that kind of nonsense if they are not performing. There’s no such thing. We know what a contract means. They are making up stories. The thing is, the players were told that if they don’t perform then their contracts will be terminated. Termination of contracts happens every day, even in Europe.”
Asked if it is within the club’s rights to terminate the players’ contract in the middle of the season, Mammila said: “When was [Hendrick] Ekstein’s contract terminated at Chiefs?
"Don’t use different English to say it was towards the end of the season; the point is that it was in the middle of the season when Chiefs terminated Ekstein's contract. These things happen everywhere. That’s football. This is not a company where you produce a mealie meal.
“If the players aren’t performing and the team isn’t winning then what do you do? Do you wait for the club to get relegated? No,” he added.
Mammila also denied that one player has gone AWOL, saying all the players are in camp.
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He also dismissed claims the players haven’t been receiving food on a regular basis.
“All the players are here," he said after pausing momentarily. "Whoever told you that is lying. There’s no such thing [that players aren’t receiving food]."
He reiterated there would be no salary cuts but said at least seven players will be released by Royal Eagles, adding that players whose contracts will be terminated will be compensated accordingly.
“There [will be] no salary cuts. There will be some terminations. Obviously, it will be an agreement between the players and the club. To be honest, we are not just going to say ‘go’. We are going to compensate them,” he said. “We are overcrowded.
"We have 33 players and we will release about seven or eight players. We will then be left with around 25 or 26 players which is a manageable squad,” concluded Mammila. "It's ethically right for the club to terminate everyone's contract at any given time. The main issue here is performance and the majority of these players aren't performing."
Goal has it on good authority that seven players were told to stop training with Royal Eagles on Thursday before being released.
The said players are Thabiso Mdletshe, Karabo Litabe, Mpho Rasilingwani, Ayanda Ngcongo, Mfundo Thikazi, Ngunezi Mkhize and Vernon Campher.
Tebogo Monyai of the South African Football Players' Union (Safpu) confirmed to Goal they are attending to the issue.
"We are attending to the issue. Our guys (Safpu) were there yesterday from Durban side," Monyai told Goal.
Royal Eagles are currently placed in 15th position on the National First Division log with six points from their opening seven league matches.
