The court has postponed the hearing for closing arguments in the highly charged and contentious court case involving Mamelodi Sundowns and coach Pitso Mosimane and his agent, his wife, Moira Tlhagale.
Tuesday’s proceedings at the Johannesburg High Court started with the re-examination of MT Sports Marketing and Management managing director Tlhagale by her lawyer, advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi SC.
Ngcukaitobi is instructed by Mabuza Attorneys. The re-examination lasted about 45 minutes.
Mosimane was seated in the gallery during Tlhagale’s re-examination.
Tlhagale stated that she never felt that she had any bargaining power during her business dealings with Sundowns.
The business dealings Tlhagale was referring to were when she negotiated the 2012 and 2016 contracts that Mosimane signed with Sundowns as a head coach.
Bitter legal battle
Tlhagale, Mosimane, and Sundowns are engaged in a bitter legal battle over the club’s demand that he pay back commission in agent’s fees in the region of R8.6-million.
“I never had any bargaining power. I was always treated as the coach’s wife and not as his agent,” said Tlhagale.
“The club said they would not pay me my agent commission [for the first two contracts] because they are paying the coach.
“They said that by virtue of paying the coach, there is no need to pay me because I am his wife. They said this was a family affair.
“I had no bargaining power. This was quite stressful, and I experienced a lot of bullying.”
She added that she had no bargaining power because, during the negotiation of Mosimane’s first contract in 2012, he was eager and hungry to get back to the game and coach after spending about six months without a job, and she did not want to hinder that.
After her re-examination, Ngcukaitobi told Judge Shanaaz Mia that the defendants’ case is closed, and he is ready to start preparing his closing arguments.
Preparing for closing arguments
Advocate Vincent Maleka SC, who represents Sundowns and is under the direction of Bowmans Attorneys, also stated that he is prepared to begin putting together closing arguments.
Mia said she would give both Maleka and Ngcukaitobi time to prepare their closing arguments, and when they are done, they should inform her office that they are ready to present closing arguments orally.
Mia postponed the matter to give both lawyers time to prepare.
A date for when the closing arguments will be heard will be announced at a later stage, after Mia has received the written closing arguments.
Mosimane was expected to testify in the case on Tuesday but did not. When approached for comment, he declined to comment.
Eric Mabuza, from Mabuza Attorneys, said he would only comment after the conclusion of the matter and after the judge has given her ruling.
Meanwhile, during her cross-examination on Monday, Tlhagale said she could not complain about how Sundowns discriminated against her as its then-club president, Patrice Motsepe, is powerful.
Treated unfairly in business dealings
She said she stands by her view that Sundowns treated her unfairly in its business dealings with her because she is a black woman.
Sundowns discriminated against her on the basis of her race and gender, she said, because the football club did not pay her agent commission after negotiating contracts for Mosimane in 2012 and 2016.
She further said the clause that existed in the contract Mosimane signed in 2020 was not present in contracts that other “white male” agents negotiated for their clients.
Tlhagale made mention of a clawback clause that Sundowns added to her contract but which, in her opinion, was not present in the contracts of other agents.
She said other agents, Mike Makaab, who represents Sundowns assistant coach Manqoba Mngqithi, and Steve Kapeluschnik, who is the agent of Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena, did not have this clause in their contracts, which they signed in 2020.
Maleka described Tlhagale’s allegations of racism and sexism as baseless.
