Late last month, following a historic qualification into the CAF Confederations Cup group stages, reports emerged that some players were involved in sexual assault in a hotel in Francistown. Kutlwano Police Station had confirmed to sister publication, Mmegi, that they have opened a case in which a 20-year-old woman said men who identified themselves as Orapa United players sexually assaulted her. According to the police, the incident occurred on Sunday night, September 22, in a hotel in Francistown after the young woman and her three companions took their party from a local club to the hotel. She further said the young woman was found walking in the hotel just before noon on Monday and she felt that she was sexually assaulted by the men who had since left the hotel by then. The 20-year-old woman reported the matter on Monday morning after waking up at around 11am alone in a hotel, naked, and she suspected to have been sexually assaulted.
The report says in the previous night (Sunday), she met three young men at a club who identified themselves as Orapa United players. The four of them later went to a hotel where they lodged and continued drinking until two of the young men left her with the other. They continued drinking until she fell asleep, but she woke up at around 11am alone, naked, and feeling like she was sexually assaulted. Speaking to SportMonitor after the 1-1 draw against Mochudi Centre Chiefs, Pantev says he is treating the news as fake, and the police are yet to conduct an investigation at the club. “I do not know because social media has a lot of fake news, if all players are here, if there is no problem then, it must be fake,” said Pantev. Quizzed if the police had come to the club Pantev said, “No, nobody came to the club.”
The Bulgarian gaffer advised the players to stay vigilant as he said it is hard to talk on the matter due to lack on substantive evidence other than reports on social media. “I talk to them that if you are on the top, you have to be ready all the time because there will be many, many fake news. It is not like 20 years ago when you had one TV (station) and one national radio, there is social media and most of this social media news are not correct," he said.
