Moorosi Tsiane
BANTU has retained the services of star duo Tsietsi Khooa and Hlompho ‘Stiga’ Kalake on two-year contracts.
The duo was on the brink of leaving the Mafeteng outfit but has finally decided to stay following lengthy discussions which early this month seemed to have hit rock bottom.
Kalake was demanding a M12 000 monthly salary and a M50 000 signing on fee. He also wanted the club to build him rental rooms.
They reached a deadlock early this month after the club said it was willing to pay a maximum of M8 000. The club even said it was giving up and said it was releasing the player.
On the other hand, Khooa was demanding a M11 000 salary. He also wanted the club to pay for his accommodation in Maseru.
While it is unclear how much Khooa eventually got as his signing fees, Kalake is said to have received M15 000 as signing fee and will get a M8 000 salary.
Bantu president Leuta John Leuta confirmed on Tuesday that the duo has signed new contracts.
“They have both signed and we are happy that we have finally managed to keep them both,” Leuta.
“Apart from the fact that he was out of the country when he signed, we didn’t face any problems with Khooa.”
Although the negotiations leading to Kalake’s contract renewal were protracted, Leuta said they returned to the negotiating table because they were not prepared to lose him.
“We didn’t want to lose Kalake but our negotiations initially didn’t go as we had anticipated. However, both parties decided to go back to the negotiating table and he accepted our offer.
“We are aware that some fans are unhappy with him but we are a professional team…
“The last thing we want is to have divisions in the team. It’s not only the player to blame for the standoff that we had. Kalake is a young player and we had a responsibility to guide him.”
Leuta however, refused to comment on how much they ended up paying the players.
