Police XI head coach Maxwell Moyo and his assistant Maitumelo Letlamoreng smoked the peace pipe and the latter returned to training on Thursday afternoon. Letlamoreng was suspended by his boss on November 4th following a 4-2 defeat to Township Rollers in the Mascom Top 8 quarterfinal, first leg match which was played at the National Stadium on October 31.
Inside sources at the Jungle Kings revealed that after the match against Rollers, Moyo felt that Letlamoreng was sabotaging him hence the poor run of form. On November 7th, Letlamoreng had to watch the beMOBILE Premiership match against Rollers at Molepolole Sports Complex from the stands. All this happened when the club’s chairman, Solomon Mantswe, was away on leave. The situation was so dire that Mantswe had to put his rest on hold to come back and resolve the problem. Mantswe met with his executive committee on November 10th and the technical team on November 11th. “It was important for the chairman to get to the bottom of the issue before taking a decision. A number of issues came out from the two meetings,” said the source.
On Wednesday afternoon, reports surfaced that Moyo had recommended Letlamoreng remain suspended until December. “It was not going to be possible because Junior (Letlamoreng) is a cop and Moyo cannot tell the big bosses here what to do. Moyo has no right to suspend anyone in the team,” added the source. When contacted for comment on Friday afternoon, Mantswe confirmed that the two coaches have buried the hatchet. “It was a little matter which could have been handled better. I’m disappointed that the matter was blown out of proportion and it compromised the image of the club,” said Mantswe. He pointed out that now that the matter is water under the bridge, he expects the technical team to produce the results. “The team has to perform and I have no doubt that we’ll eliminate Rollers come the second leg (Mascom Top 8),” Mantswe said.
Meanwhile, Mantswe disclosed that they have made changes to the team with manager Jonas Basupi recalled from his duties. “After what transpired last week, there was need to make changes. We will announce the name of the new manager in the near future. In the interim, assistant manager (Gabriel Matlakele) will run the affairs of the team,” said Mantswe. According to sources it was Basupi who wanted Letlamoreng out of the team. “He (Basupi) used Moyo to push his own agendas. Since he came into team things have been very difficult especially for Junior. He is the one who recommended Police XI employ Moyo despite the fact that under Junior, the team finished in the top 8 bracket last season,” said the source.
The manager dismissed the accusations levelled against him. “All I did was for the best of the team. When the coach told me that he isn’t working well with Junior, I agreed with him that suspension was the best thing at that moment,” said Basupi.
