Sundowns sweat over foreign players
MAMELODI Sundowns finalised their five foreign players for the season last Friday, on the last day of registration, leaving questions over what happens to other international signings they have made in recent months.
Coach Pitso Mosimane is refusing to tell reporters what he is going to do about them, saying it is an internal matter.
Sundowns have registered Khama Billiat, Cuthbert Malajila (both Zimbabwe), Rashid Sumaila (Ghana), Dove Wome (Togo) and Mulenga Mukuka from Zambia as their maximum five for the 2013-14 season.
It means there is no place for Glenn Verbauwhede (Belgium) and Togo international fullback Emmanuel Mathias, who were signed in recent months by the big-spending club.
Sundowns have also been unable to offload the Ghanaian pair of Mumuni Abubaker and Emmanuel Baffour, who were registered last season but are not in Mosimane’s plans.
It means Sundowns have four players under contract that they must pay but cannot play. There might be a fifth. It is not clear what the contract terms are of Zimbabwe international Lionel Mutizwa, who was loaned to Pretoria University last season.
Esrom Nyandoro, Elias Pelembe (Dominquez), Antony Laffor and Kennedy Mweene all are foreign internationals but have earned permanent residence after more than five years in the country and can play as locals.
Sundowns’ Dutch-born captain Alje Schut is also registered as local after Sundowns paid to get him permanent residency when he arrived last year, buying him special status in a ruse that while not illegal is certainly unsporting and caught a dithering Premier Soccer League (PSL) unawares.
Schut was granted permanent residency “in the category of financial independence”, according to his registration form. That is a special category that, according to home affairs legislation, may be issued to a foreigner who has a minimum net worth of R7.5m and who has agreed to pay a fee of R75,000.
As of last night, the PSL had not released the complete list of registered players for the new season, so it is not yet possible to know if Sundowns have tried to register both Mathias and Verbauwhede, or one of the two, using a similar subterfuge.
If so, it would be hard to believe that a goalkeeper, who had limited game time in Belgium, has amassed a nest egg of R7.5m in his playing career. The same applies to journeyman fullback Mathias, who was last playing in Nigeria but whose only claim to any potential riches is a brief spell at Esperance of Tunisia.