Chippa United chairman Siviwe Mpengesi has moved to clear the air following last week’s announcement that they had signed Thabo Matlaba and Bernard Morrison.
The Chilli Boys sparked confusion on Friday when they stated that Matlaba and Morrison had been acquired from Orlando Pirates, along with Thamsanqa Sangweni.
The Buccaneers responded by confirming that Sangweni had completed his move back to the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, but made no mention of the other two players.
It was subsequently reported that Matlaba had snubbed Chippa, while Morrison insisted his representatives had not been in contact with the Port Elizabeth club.
Mpengesi has now clarified the situation, admitting the pair will not be joining Dan Malesela’s side ahead of the new season.
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“Sangweni is here, he has started training and he is in good shape, you will remember we never had his replacement in the middle of the park since he left us,” Mpengesi told Umhlobo Wenene FM on Thursday.
“The issue is there was something like that regarding Matlaba and Morrison. The two players were signed as loans from Pirates, but what happened is that Pirates later released Morrison, they gave him his clearance.
“They gave him his papers so that he can negotiate with us, and the deal changed because we agreed Pirates will pay a portion of his salary and we also pay as well because it was a loan. We saw that if he joins us permanently, we cannot afford his salary and we could not agree.
“I can assure you that Morrison is not coming to Chippa, that is the same with Matlaba – there were reports in the media that there was an issue with him.
“We have (Tebogo) Tlolane who comes from Jomo Cosmos and others at left-back, the two (Matlaba and Morrison) players will not come to us.”
