It seems that the owners of Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila have overstretched in their acquisition of a PSL franchise as senior players refuse to train in protest over unpaid wages.
TTM’s Lerato Lamola, Mogakolodi Ngele missed the match against Orlando Pirates due to their ongoing protest over failure to pay them. While Edgar Manaka has also taken issue with the top brass.
TTM senior players revolt over non-payment
This comes as former Orlando Pirates winger Justin Shonga departed the club to join Cape Town City having also not been paid by TTM.
The club say they are working on rectifying the matter. According to SA Football Players Union (Safpu) president Thulaganyo Gaoshubelwe, TTM have given assurances that the players will be paid in due course.
“Yes, we know about players who have not received their monies, and we’ve spoken about that and attended to it,” Gaoshubelwe told Sowetan.
“We spoke to the chairman of the club with regards to that. We’ve referred to the matter of Lamola and those who have brought the case to us.
“Shonga also launched a one-man protest in the first match of the year. He told them he was still in Zambia but he was back in the country.”
The situation at TTM has left coach Joel Masutha frustrated as he is unable to utilise his full squad leaving him short in key positions.
“I believe the management has assembled a good team. Yes, we are limited in certain positions, and like any other team, when you are limited, you have to beef up,” Masutha told SuperSport TV after the match against Orlando Pirates which TTM lost 3-0.
“Where we are, we are not safe but we are lacking in crucial positions. If you check the team against Pirates, we only had one defender.
“Those are the areas we have to look at if we want to compete. The management knows that these are the areas we need to beef so we can compete with other clubs.”
Uphill battle to beat the drop
TTM, who bought their way into the top-flight before the end of the 2019/20 season are languishing in 12th place just three points above bottom clubs Chippa United and Black Leopards. They have recorded just one win in their first ten matches in the PSL.
The Limpopo club face a tricky assignment away to unbeaten Golden Arrows this weekend and could be without a number of key players for the encounter.
