Moroka Swallows chairman David Mogashoa has expressed fear that Marumo Gallants may be relegated from the PSL.
Moroka Swallows chairman David Mogashoa fears that Marumo Gallants may be relegated from the PSL.
ALSO READ | Swallows sell their status to Marumo Gallants
He’s worried the value of the franchise will drop if the court doesn’t quickly cancel the sale agreement and return the team to him.
Swallows have petitioned the Joburg High Court to cancel the sale agreement. This comes after Gallants failed to pay the outstanding balance of the R40 million price tag attached to the team.
Of the R40 million, Gallants paid R20 million in cash. R10 million was earmarked to pay Swallows’ tax bill, and R10 million was to cover players and technical team debt.
The SARS debt was not paid and has since increased to more than R13 million after penalties and interest were added.
The R10 million that was to cover the players, and the technical team was also not fully paid. This prompted Swallows to cancel the sale agreement.
In the court papers seen by Daily Sun, Mogashoa expressed his concern that the value of the team may depreciate because Gallants are teetering on the brink of relegation.
“The franchise is at a risk of relegation, as it is currently placed in position 13 on the premiership log with 13 fixtures remaining before the end of the season.”
“The value of a relegated franchise is significantly less than the value of the current franchise,” he said.
Gallants are now in position 14, just above Orbit College and Magesi.
Mogashoa said Swallows wanted payment of the outstanding balance so they could pay SARS, which has been breathing down their neck for a while.
He said Swallows insisted in June 2025 that the parties hold a meeting to establish when they intended to settle the balance because Sars was piling pressure on them.
“The first respondent was supposed to make payment to the applicant so that the SARS debt could be settled but failed to do so without any explanation.”
“The SARS debt is in the applicant’s name, and it exposes the applicant to serious enforcement measures which are not only limited to attachment of assets but may include liquidation apart from penalties and interest that accumulate monthly to the account,” Mogashoa said.
He said that at this meeting both clubs agreed that a follow-up meeting would be held at the end of August 2025.
They also agreed that Gallants would settle the balance of the purchase price before that date.
“After this meeting, the first respondent made some payments and discontinued the payments before the full balance outstanding was settled. The first respondent stopped answering the applicant’s calls and avoided holding the meeting at the end of August 2025,” Mogashoa said.
Mogashoa added that since then, he has been unable to make contact with Gallants boss Abram Sello. He has given up trying to get hold of him.
He said as a result of his failure to contact Sello, he was left with no choice but to seek legal recourse.
“Even before issuing this application, the applicant tried to send a letter of demand to the first respondent to remedy the breach, which letter was simply ignored,” he said.
Mogashoa said he did not understand why Gallants were failing to pay the debt. He claimed they’ve already collected close to R100 million in grants from the PSL since they started plying their trade in the money-spinning league.
“The first respondent has received more than R80 000 000 (Eighty million rand) in monthly grants and sale of players since taking over from the applicant in June 2024,” he said.
He warned that if the court doesn’t act swiftly to cancel the sale agreement, the team’s value might crash.
ALSO READ | PSL committe suggest Royal AM status to be canceled
Speaking to Daily Sun, Mogashoa confirmed that they were worried about Gallants’ possibility of being relegated.
“If they are relegated, the value of the team will plunge to just R12 million, which is a serious problem,” he added.
