Mikia Kalati
BANTU president, John Leuta, has denied allegations that his club paid the costs of hiring Setsoto Stadium on behalf of Sky Battalion ahead of the two sides’ Econet Premier League clash on Sunday.
Social media was awash with claims that the reigning champions paid M7 000 to Sky Battalion who were the home side in order for the match to take place at the national stadium in Maseru. Bantu won the match 1-0.
However, Leuta came out guns blazing, telling the Lesotho Times this week that the allegations had been concocted by people who were jealous of the success Bantu has enjoyed over the last two years on and off the field.
“I have heard about those reports which are very baseless and hurting the image of the game,” Leuta said.
“We all know who the stadium manager is. He handles the payments for Setsoto and he has said that the payment was made by Sky Battalion.
“Those are cheap lies and I know where they are coming from.”
Leuta who is also the premier league chairperson, said the claims were part of a smear campaign aimed at tarnishing his image.
“I have even heard some of the radio presenters tarnishing my image as premier league chair. I am not surprised and I expected this because of the success we are enjoying as a team.
“We know there are people who are jealous of our success and the support the team is getting from the corporate world.
“We have no reason to do that. We have bought players and are investing a lot of money on them.
“We have won the Independence Cup and the league and some people are saying we bought our way to the top.
“We do not have any reason to fix a game against a team at the bottom of the table and has lost all its matches.
“We have quality players and it would not make sense to fix matches,” he said, adding they were prepared to take legal action to protect their brand.
“It is a shame that people who are supposed to be promoting the game have decided to tarnish its image with some cheap allegations even on radio.”
Attempts to obtain comment from the stadium’s manager match proved futile as his phone was not reachable.
