People have short memories

Cape Town Spurs Chief Executive Officer Alexi Efstathiou has addressed the ongoing disputes involving new Kaizer Chiefs signings, Asanele Velebayi and Luke Baartman. In an interview with Soccer Laduma’s Clifton Mabasa, Efstathiou shared his views on how player transfers should be conducted, while making it clear that Spurs are not backing down from pursuing the cases concerning the two players.

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Clifton Mabasa: Alexi, we appreciate your time. What are your thoughts on the Asanele Velebayi and Luke Baartman moves to Kaizer Chiefs?

Alexi Efstathiou: I don’t want to get into the details of that (Velebayi, Baartman contract issues) because the cases are going to arbitration now. We're just waiting for SAFA to give us the dates, but I don’t know why they are taking so long. I think SAFA has its own set of issues because at the moment, they’re struggling to get arbitrators because the previous ones that they were using haven’t been paid. So, the guys don't want to work for them anymore. But as far as we are concerned, we have contracts with the players. So, if they want to negotiate with us, they can, but they haven't. Currently we are paying all the players who are contracted to the club even though we have been relegated to the amateur league. They have contracts, and we must respect them.

CM: So, does this mean that these players are contracted to two different clubs? What happens next in this situation?

AE: That is the issue, we have existing contracts with the players, and I don’t know what will happen. They must work out any problems they will have. We will see what happens in the arbitration. If we don’t get the outcome we want, then we must move to the next stage. If we have to end up at CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), then that’s where we'll end up. Which now is unfortunate, because I think the players will be sitting around for a long time, which for young players is not a good idea. But yes, that’s how it is. It feels like all the good that we have done for football in South Africa for these many years is now just not respected. So, we will seek justice for what we believe in.

CM: But the National Soccer League rule says the players are now free agents since the team is in the amateur league...