Gallants chair denies wrongdoing over Moroka Swallows deal and insists debt payments are on track

Marumo Gallants chair Abram Sello says the club has honoured its financial obligations to Moroka Swallows and has not breached the agreement to buy the Soweto side’s Premiership status, despite a legal bid to overturn the sale.

Swallows chair David Mogashoa approached the Johannesburg high court in March, seeking an order that would empower the Premier Soccer League (PSL) executive committee to cancel the sale of the club to Gallants.

Court papers allege that Gallants failed to pay the outstanding balance of the agreed purchase price. Sello bought Swallows’ Premiership status in 2024 for R40m and, it later emerged, had paid R20m of that figure.

Speaking after a Marumo Gallants press conference in Sandton on Tuesday, Sello rejected any suggestion the deal was in danger of being reversed and maintained the club was meeting its obligations.

“We are where we were exactly from the beginning when we made the arrangement of the sale agreement. There is nothing strange or difficult, and nothing to say the team will be reversed and all those things,” Sello said.

He added that both parties had recently met to resolve issues around the transaction and that their legal representatives were now managing the process.

“We had to sit around the table to sort out the differences which we thought [we had] but still stuck by the contract. There is nothing more I can say now, and we put it in the hands of the legal division, and it is working out nicely.

“Eight weeks ago, we sat with Swallows management and their legal team, and it is [being] sorted out very well. There is nothing strange like the way people say things through the media.”

‘We had to pay Swallows’ judgments’

Sello also disclosed that the agreement to acquire Swallows’ Premiership status required Gallants to assume responsibility for the club’s existing legal and financial obligations.

“It was a continuous payment. Swallows had some judgment and settlements which they had to pay. By the time they sold the team, those were not done; then we had to do them on their behalf,” he said.

“And you know it is a buying concern through PSL. There is no way that you can run away from your debts. You have to continue paying them.

“It is an ongoing payment until we finish. I’ve got no complaints. Everything is addressed.”

Sello did not provide further detail on the outstanding balance of the purchase price or the specific judgments involved, but stressed that Gallants were following the terms of the original sale agreement as sanctioned through the PSL processes.

Return to Royal Bafokeng Stadium

Away from the legal dispute, Sello confirmed that Marumo Gallants will relocate their home matches back to Royal Bafokeng Stadium for the new season, ending their stint in Bloemfontein.

The club had been based in Mangaung, but Sello said the move had created significant logistical challenges for the squad.

“We went to Mangaung. It was good, they received us well. But the logistics were challenging in terms of travelling, in terms of our players being tired all the time,” he explained.

“Now we are going back to Royal Bafokeng, where we have an unfinished story. The community was working well with us. Unfortunately, due to facilities, we had to move.”

Sello indicated that the decision to return to Royal Bafokeng Stadium was driven by football and operational considerations, suggesting that the club felt more settled and better supported in the North West venue.

The legal dispute between Gallants and Swallows over the sale remains before the Johannesburg high court, with Sello expressing confidence that the matter is being “sorted out very well” through the clubs’ legal teams and the existing PSL framework.