Royal AM president Shauwn Mkhize has confirmed that the club have resolved their impasse with Ndumiso Mabena and he his now free to join the club of his wishes.
Mabena was in a dispute with Royal AM, who looked to offload him to Swallows during the off-season in a deal which saw Khetukuthula Ndlovu and Ruzaigh Gamildien move the other way.
However, Mabena did not agree to join Swallows and took the club to the Premier Soccer League Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC), which ruled in his favour and ordered the club to reinstate him for the rest of his contract, which was running until the end of season.
Mkhize confirmed that Mabena took the club to the DRC but insisted when they expected him back for training in July he didn’t pitch, leading the club to charge him. Mabena then took the matter to the labour court, where he won the case last Friday, according to iDiski Times sources.
Mkhize has now portrayed her side of the saga, revealing the two parties agreed to a four-months payoff and the club gave the player his clearance on Wednesday.
“There was a club-to-club that happened prior to the season end, which as confidential at the time,” she told iDiski Times.
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“He felt that we should have told him that we’ve sold him there, because as a person he was not happy to go to Swallows. He took us to DRC because we were saying he must report to Swallows because it was a club-to-club deal.
“So he took us to DRC and the DRC said even though he was not with us in July we must pay him in July and he must report back for work, which he didn’t do. So when he didn’t report for work we charged him as club because that’s abscondment.
“Then when we charged him they decided to take us to labour court, asking for the full pay of his contract because we’re in breach, but the labour court because it didn’t have the jurisdiction of the matter, they still ruled the same thing as was ruled by the DRC, which was we must pay him a month.
“When he came back from there, because he didn’t get his full contract, he started to negotiate and say he’s willing to take four months and we part ways and we gave him his four months payout and we gave him his clearance.”
Mabena is now free to join a club of his choosing, with SABC Sport reporting Orlando Pirates are keen on adding him to their attacking department, eight years after his initial exit. Meanwhile, Chippa United and Maritzburg United are also said to be interested in his services.
Story by David Kappel (@kappilinho).
