Sono admits to owing his players their salaries

Speaking to the City Press said part of the trouble was that some players drew “Premiership salaries”.

“I’ll be the first chairperson that comes out to say ‘I owe you’, and, yes, we owe them for May and June,” Sono is quoted as saying by the Sunday newspaper.

“When we got relegated to the NFD [two seasons ago], we went down with Premier Soccer League [PSL] contracts, and we were hoping to return after one season. Most of the players were on PSL salaries, and I could not afford them. That’s why I also had to release 28 players; I simply could not afford them.

“It’s not only Jomo Cosmos that is facing problems, even big companies … every house has got its own storm, and this will pass,” he added.

Meanwhile, striker Clifford Mulenga told a national radio station recently that he was owed nine months in wages.

Mulenga said he had asked the SA Football Players Union (Safpu) to take up his fight.

“I have a contract with Cosmos until 2019, and the club owes me about R146 000. This includes short payments since October last year,” said Mulenga.

“It is not about Clifford and Jomo because there are others who are also owed. All we are asking for is what is due to us.”

In his response, Sono labelled the Zambia-born player a rebel.

“Why is he only coming out now after I told him we won’t renew his contract? For me, this is a Yaya Toure story; he praised Pep Guardiola as (a) god at Manchester City when he was playing, but turned around and said Guardiola was a bad man and a racist when he was not playing,” commented Sono.

Safpu president Thulaganyo Gaoshubelwe said the union had tried in vain to reach Cosmos.

“Jomo said his door was open, but then refused us when we asked to see the players,” said Gaoshubelwe.

“We are happy that people like Clifford stood up. We’ll continue exposing this, and serial offenders must be punished. For the longest time, we have called for financial fair play.”
Sono, however, denied shutting the door on Safpu.

“Why should I fight the union? We have an open-door policy at Cosmos. Am I so difficult? No, I am not the arrogant person they make me out to be,” said Sono.