Kaizer Chiefs have responded to suggestions they illegally approached AmaZulu midfielder Siyethemba Sithebe to sign a pre-contract.
Chiefs secured the signing of the South Africa international midfielder, who is set to join the club upon the expiry of his contract in July 2022 but Usuthu chairman Sandile Zungu has cried foul in the alleged manner they secured the deal.
With Sithebe’s contract running out, Chiefs were legally clear to negotiate the Bosman free transfer as of January 1, which the Zungu argues was not the case.
“Chiefs weren’t honest in the deal because they agreed terms without the January window being opened in signing a pre-contract,” he told SunSport earlier this month.
“In December, when we were on holiday, they had completed everything with him and you know the window only opened on 1 January. I told Bobby Motaung that I’m not happy at all about this.”
However, the club’s sporting director Kaizer Motaung Jnr. has dismissed the claims, saying the approached Sithebe and his representatives in a professional manner, well within the parameters to legally concluded the deal.
“If you had to go to our website, the first point in our mission statement is that we promise to always hold ourselves to the highest standards in our business dealings, endeavours and in everything that we do,” Motaung Jnr. said on the Ultimate Sports Show.
“I just want to single that out because it’s the guiding light that we work from, it’s how our forefathers have worked at Kaizer Chiefs. So that’s the first point, what I know is that’s how the club approached the situation.
“But in saying that I also… with the utmost respect to try and be as professional as possible, I can’t really comment on players who are not Kaizer Chiefs players, we’re talking about a player that’s at a different club. And his chairman is speaking about elements of a player where he is at.
“Out of respect for me and that club, that’s all I can say. But in every single interaction, we always have to hold ourselves at the highest standard.”
When pressed about whether they started negotiations before 1 January as Zungu suggested, Motaung Jnr. claimed they are not guilty of the accusations and would not have attempted to tap the player up due to the ethics and values the club strives to live by.
“The straight-up answer is that we’ve always done exactly how we have to hold our standards, being professional in the right time and frame, when the rules say something is allowed that’s the only time the club is able to function and that’s what the club has done,” he continued.
“So yet again, it’s tough talking about players from different teams, I can only talk about registered Kaizer Chiefs players. So it’s good to hear the thoughts and we have the highest respect for the Zungu family and AmaZulu as a whole.
“The club has acted in the right time constraints, so I think we have conducted ourselves within the parameters.”
Sithebe is currently unavailable for Benni McCarthy’s side after reportedly being told by Zungu that he will no longer feature for the first team this season.
