Clubs to Cheeky: Where is the money?
Mpayipeli and suspended executive member, Chico Februarie, were blocked from entering the meeting by 'gangsters' employed by Cheeky Watson for the sole purpose of ensuring the pair did not enter the meeting.
Upon arriving at the gates, the pair were forced to become physical when they were denied entry. When they were able to get into the building, more security guards were waiting for them – which was when the chaos kicked off.
"The only thing we want from him [Watson] is to tell us what happened to the money, what went wrong and how he can rectify the situation. Obviously, those three questions make him get bodyguards or gangsters because they were not in security uniform.
"They wore private clothes, so their company could not be identified. They were clearly hired to keep us out of the meeting. We never went there to fight, only to ask questions," Mpayipeli told rugby365.com.
Mpayipeli was also informed that he was not allowed to enter the meeting as there were already delegates in the meeting representing Spring Rose, delegates who were not mandated to attend the AGM.
"When you disagree with the big guy Cheeky Watson, he gets bodyguards to block you from entering. He has 'elders' under his control and he presented them as delegates from our clubs without the mandate for them to be the representatives.
"The same delegates who represented Spring Rose at the 2014 AGM, were again there to represent the club without the club's mandate. They were not allowed to be there at the first AGM and were elected by Watson himself to represent the club and look after his interest.
"My mandate as the chairperson of the club was solely to go there and make sure that, as a club, we did not sit in a meeting or send any delegation to represent us. When I walked in there, I was told that I could not be allowed inside because my name was not on the list and the club had sent the delegates to represent us at the AGM.
"I then asked for a letter to see who signed it, sent it and mandated those delegates because there should be a list of members present at such a meeting and there should be a letter from the club. Those things were not there, which is when I demanded them to allow me in and they refused, so I was forced to push my way in. Februarie and I assisted each other to get into the meeting because we were part of the delegation that ensured the MEC called for the meeting to take place.
"Maybe for reasons known to Watson himself, we were not allowed in the meeting. Maybe we posed a threat. We don't know what threat we pose," he added.
Mpayipeli insisted they arrived at the meeting with no intention to become physical and that their sole purpose was to ask Watson questions. He insisted that they are against a vote of no confidence.
"We are not pushing for a vote of no confidence. We are pushing for accountability. He must account because if we push for a vote of no confidence and he is taken out, we will still not know what went wrong. We can't blame him for what we don't know, so he needs to tell us what went wrong. We don't want him to go, we just want accountability
"He is forced [by the MEC] to show up at the next meeting and produce signed financial statements because what he presented at the AGM was not signed. We want to know how much money has come in and where exactly that money was spent. We never received that info in 2014 and there's no sign of us getting that now either. We just want to know where the money was spent and why we are bankrupt," Mpayipeli stated.
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— ThandoManana (@TandoManana) January 30, 2016
By Tauriq Ebrahim
