Former Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane told the club’s then president, Patrice Motsepe, that he was concerned about his health because the club was demanding more from him after bumping his salary from R840 000 to R1.5-million a month.
Mosimane told Motsepe that he was worried his heart condition and hypertension would worsen if the club increased his already taxing workload.
Mosimane expressed his health concerns to Motsepe in letters he exchanged with Sundowns board member Rejoice Simelane.
In the letters that Sunday World has seen, Simelane told Mosimane that they were worried that he had told the mining billionaire of his health concerns about his heart condition and sugar diabetes, which he feared would deteriorate if the club piled more pressure on him after begrudgingly meeting his salary demands.
“I refer to your recent cellphone discussion with the president of Mamelodi Sundowns and thought it necessary to highlight the following important matters: your health, both physically and mentally, is extremely important to Mamelodi Sundowns.
“You particularly referred to the health condition of your heart and your exposure to sugar diabetes. Mamelodi Sundowns and yourself must work together, including with the support of your family, to ensure that your health condition is looked after and receives constant priority attention,” reads Simelane’s letter dated August 22, 2020.
Simelane also stated that they were aware of Mosimane’s “burdensome” and “stressful” job as head coach and encouraged him to inform the club whenever he had health complications.
She said the club was concerned about his perception that, due to the salary hike, it would raise its expectations.
“Mamelodi Sundowns is concerned about your perception that, due to the significant increase in your salary, the club is going to expect excessive results from you and is going to put pressure on you to attain those results; which pressure will have an impact on your health.”
She said Sundowns’ expectations and objectives as stated in his contract, remained unchanged. However, Simelane stated that the club still expected him to produce pre- and post-match reports.
These reports, she said, were supposed to be submitted to the club’s then technical director, Jose Ramon Alexanko.
“I also want to draw your attention to another important matter, which is; the pre- and post-match report, which you and the senior club’s technical team must draft and submit to José Ramon before and after every match. A copy of these pre- and post-match reports must also be submitted to the technical subcommittee of the board at the same time that it is submitted to José Ramon.
“The technical sub-committee of the board has to assess and evaluate these reports before and after every match and discuss these reports with the board of Mamelodi Sundowns every month,” Simelane stated.
She also stated that in addition, Mosimane and the senior club’s technical team were expected to, once every month, report in person and discuss the pre- and post-match reports with the board of Sundowns.
Simelane said the contents of the reports should include, among others, reasons for losing matches, the aspects and areas of Sundowns’ performance that must be improved and corrected and those that were good and should be built on.
“You and the technical team and José Ramon, as well as the sub-committee of the board… will over time develop a format and structure for the pre- and post-match reports,” she stated.
Replying to Simelane’s letter, Mosimane said: “I need to correct the misunderstanding in your letter that I have sugar diabetes. I do not have any sugar diabetes concerns but rather high blood pressure.”
Mosimane additionally stated that some of the demands in Simelane’s letter contradicted their agreement. He said he noted the new requirements in Simelane’s letter to submit pre- and post match reports, among others.
“I would like you to kindly please consider that most of the time we have tight back-to-back match schedules due to us being in CAF Championship and progressing to the finals of cup games.
“We usually play two to three games a week plus travelling time. I therefore humbly request that we [be] given 96 hours to submit the post-match report,” reads his reply.
Before that, Mosimane wrote an email to Simelane at five in the morning after their game against the Lamontville Golden Arrows, stating how almost impossible it was to meet the club’s “new” demands due to the hectic schedule.
“As you can see from the time of my email, that time is not on my side, and I will try and get a few hours of sleep and respond to your letter,” he wrote back.
Mosimane quit the club to join Egyptian giant Al Ahly after complaining about his work schedule, among other issues.
The club took him and his wife and agent, Moira Tlhagale, to court, demanding that they pay back the R8 million commission they paid her as he had left before the end of his contract.
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