PSL outfit Polokwane City and its boss are suing footie Mpho Makola for R15-million after he “lied” that the businessman instructed his team manager to take the food he bought for players and feed it to dogs as a punishment for losing a game.
In the court papers they filed in the Johannesburg High Court last week, the club and its owner, Johnny Mogaladi, state that Makola pulled the wool over the public’s eyes when he claimed in the interview on Arena Sports Show last month that the club boss instructed the administrative staff to take the food he had bought for the players and feed his dogs on his farm because they had lost their match against Hungry Lions in Kimberly.
In the interview, whose video clip went viral, Makola, who left the club in a huff last year, said the club usually bought food for its players after a football match.
He said after losing their game, they boarded a bus to Polokwane, and en route club officials bought food for players.
The former Orlando Pirates midfielder explained that because Polokwane City had lost the match, Mogaladi told the team manager not to give the players food, but rather give the grub to his dogs on his farm in Limpopo. “When I heard this, I didn’t want to know what happened – did they actually do it or not? I actually lost respect for that person and those people who were in the bus who work with him because apparently those are the kind of things they do at that team,” Makola claimed.
The video clip of the interview and the statements shared and distributed on social media, according to City and Mogaladi, were incorrect and false.
They said Makola made the statements with intent to defame them and injure their reputations. This is because the statements were understood by viewers to mean that the club goes about its operations in a reprehensible manner. They went on to say that Makola’s statements also implied that the club was acting inhumanely, aggressively, abusively, high-handedly, arbitrarily, punishingly, immorally, dishonourably and deviously.
“It ill-treats football players of Polokwane City FC, and that these football players are treated worse than dogs. (The club) lacks professional and ethical integrity,” read the papers.
Mogaladi and City said that as a result of the defamatory statements, the club had suffered damages of R7.5-million.
City said that in the event that the court finds that the club, as a trading corporation, is not entitled to general damages, it sought an order directing Makola to apologise and retract the statements he made.
Mogaladi also said Makola’s statements did not only defame the team but tainted his reputation too. This is because the statements created a false impression that he is treating the players in a negative manner and lacks professional and ethical integrity.
“As a result of the defamation, the second plaintiff has been damaged in his reputation and has suffered damages in the sum of R7.500.000.00.
In the alternative to prayer (1) above, an order directing publication by the defendant of a retraction of the statements and an apology, both of which are to be placed on the defendant’s social media channels,” read the papers.
