Sports

It’s all lies– Rollers on Sebata exit

Investor: Sebata. PIC:ROLLERS
 
Investor: Sebata. PIC:ROLLERS

There was a further suggestion that Sebata is demanding a stake in Township Rollers Pty (Ltd), a commercial entity that ran the club during former club president, Jagdish Shah's 10-year reign. Following Shah's departure, Rollers established Popa Investment (Pty) (Ltd). An 80% stake in Popa Investment is reserved for the investor, in this case, Sebata, whilst the remaining 20% is for the club's general membership.

MmegiSport has been informed that Sebata has queried Rollers over the status of Township Rollers Pty (Ltd) and wanted the club to trade under the entity instead of Popa Investment Pty (Ltd). Shah is said to own an 80% stake in Township Rollers Pty (Ltd) and was to meet the club leadership for a handover. Shah has reportedly failed to meet with the Rollers management and retains the majority stake of Township Rollers (Pty) (Ltd). MmegiSport has been further informed that Sebata is yet to sign any document with Rollers despite his much-publicised launch held during the off-season. Speaking to MmegiSport, Rollers' secretary-general, Obert Kgathi, said the club is puzzled by the emergence of the reports as he assured that all is well at the record league champions. 'Those are lies. How can one invest in something they have no MoA (Memorandum of Agreement) with? We are just puzzled hence we (are) not even responding to anything,' Kgathi briefly said.

Rollers have a long history of ownership and investor wrangles. The high-profile case was between Shah and the 'traditional owners' of the club. The matter occurred more than a decade ago and the two parties needed the intervention of the courts of law that granted Shah's camp the club ownership. A year ago, Rollers and Shah were at a crossroads with the latter announcing his abrupt departure after his lengthy stay at the club. Earlier this year, former president Jimmy Haskins Kereng also left Rollers in the no-man's land after just a year with the club. The Sebata tenure kicked off smoothly as the club faithful thought they had finally found stability in the post-Shah era.