ADVERTISEMENT:

 

Mr Jafter Mamugudubi of Mamu.

We are suffering hardship because of Mamu's failure to pay us

 

The Tshiozwi Village Team participated in the annual Sinthumule-Kutama Easter Challenge tournament and finished as runners-up. Nine weeks after the tournament, they have not been paid their R5 000 cash prize.

The tournament's final match was held on 16 April at the Vhuilafuri Stadium. After the game, all teams were awarded cash prizes and some were given cheques because of a shortage of cash on that day.

The general secretary for Mamu Community Development, Mr Jafter Mamugudubi, made a solid promise that the cheques were valid and that they would not bounce.

Limpopo Mirror received a letter from representatives of the team, Messrs Calvin Sidebi and Steven Mukhudi, in which they complained that Mamu had not paid them so far. “We were awarded a fake cheque of R5 000,” they state in the letter. “The cheque was rejected by the bank and we immediately informed the organiser of the tournament, Mr Jafter Mamugudubi, who promised to resolve the matter in a short space of time.”

The letter also states that Mamugudubi failed to honour his promise, but heaped fresh promises upon old promises. “We suffered hardship because of this disappointment, but we were patient enough,” they said.

In response to media inquiries, Mamugudubi said that the organisation had utilised the money for a young local soccer star who was going to do trials with Kaizer Chiefs in Gauteng. He indicated that the community had made contributions for the young man's trip, but that the funds were not enough to cover all his costs.

“I have since explained this to the community and Tshiozwi Village Team and they understood my side of the story,” he said. “We are a unified community here at Tshiozwi and all people understand the virtues and ideals that bind us together – those ideals are to see development in and from our community among our youths.”

He indicated that the cheque bouncing was not intentional. “We received deposit notifications into our account, which showed that they were from other sponsors, but it unfortunately was a hoax of some kind,” Mamugudubi said.

He said that the Tshiozwi Village Team would get their money in two weeks, since the organisation had received a financial commitment from one of their sponsors. “The community understands our predicament and we are busy working on getting the money for the village.”

Makhado Local Football Association's chairperson, Mr Joseph Maphaha, said that the association was aware of the tournament. "We even sent referees to the tournament with full knowledge and assurance that all the teams would be given the necessary prizes," he said. "It's the first time that we are experiencing a problem of this nature, where organisers failed to pay participants. Mamugudubi didn't even invite us this year. Normally he would invite us to be present during matches. So, we would have seen all that from inside. We'll now have an executive meeting regarding the letter of complaint which the Tshiozwi Village Team submitted to us."

Sport - Date: 01 July 2017

Recent Articles

Search for a story:

 
 

ADVERTISEMENT

 

Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

Email: [email protected]

ADVERTISEMENT: