Swallows will fly again – Lesufi

With the aim of reviving Moroka Swallows proving to be a difficult task after the club was relegated to the SAB League last season and in huge debt, Gauteng MEC of Education Panyaza Lesufi and his team believe the only way to see Swallows flying again is to start afresh as they wait for the court to liquidate the club.

Speaking at a press conference in Parktown yesterday, Lesufi said the club is under a huge debt cloud amounting to R197 million.

“The liquidation process went on two weeks ago, the papers were formally served at the South Gauteng High Court and the judge requested that the matter be put on hold for a few weeks before it can be finalised,” Lesufi explained.

“We assume the process will be finalised any time from now on. The team is liquidated and we start on a clean slate.”

Lesufi says the only way to ensure the Moroka Swallows brand stays alive is to re-brand the club, and they have introduced a method of crowd funding which will see the club being owned by club supporters and the public by buying shares with the aim of buying a status in the Absa Premiership or the National First Division.

This will be a totally new team which will use the name Swallows FC, while Lesufi and his team wait for the court to make a decision on liquidating Moroka Swallows, which is currently playing in the fourth division.

However, Lesufi said they would use the Moroka Swallows name again once the court has declared it officially liquidated.

“We will use the name Swallows FC instead of the full name Moroka Swallows until the legal process is finalised.”

Lesufi added that they have brought in former Mamelodi Sundowns manager Mike Ntombela on to their campaign team to help get Swallows back into top-flight football and help in the day-to-day running of the club.

The club will be celebrating its 70th birthday in October this year.