18/01/2026
PUBLIC APOLOGY ON DELAYED PAYMENTS OF MATSHELA 2025 FESTIVE FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT
The Tshelas Festive Tournament Committee (TFTC) wishes to unreservedly apologise to Matshelagabedi community, village leadership, participating football teams, match officials and all stakeholders for the delayed payments which were due immediately after the tournament ends on 02nd January 2026.
This unfortunate situation arose due to the failure by the Committee’s treasurer to properly account for funds that were entrusted to him and handle the settlement of all tournament-related payments by stated time. TFTC acknowledges the seriousness of this anomaly and the inconvenience, frustration, and disappointment it has caused to all affected parties. As a Committee we had no doubt that the treasurer would disappoint in his duties the way he did especially that he has done well in the previous year.
The Committee takes full responsibility for this lapse in its financial controls and governance, and we deeply regret the damage this has caused to the reputation of the tournament and the trust placed in us by the community and stakeholders.
We wish to inform all concerned parties that the Treasurer has made a formal legal commitment to fully pay all outstanding monies by 31 January 2026. The Committee is actively monitoring this process and is taking steps to ensure that all affected teams and officials are paid as promised.
TFTC further commits to rectifying this mistake, strengthening its financial oversight mechanisms, and putting measures in place to prevent a recurrence of such an incident in the future.
As a voluntary committee and sponsors of the annual festive tournament, who has a burning desire to unite the village through sports and foster future development of the village and its people, we wish to categorically clarify that we have no intention of swindling the community or use this project for personal gain as is already public perception. The project was done in good faith.
Once again, we sincerely apologise for this matter and humbly ask for patience and understanding as we work to resolve it fully. We also thank supporters for gracing the event in numbers and we assure you that what happened would never repeat itself as the committee have learnt serious lessons from last year’s edition.
Note that TFTC is a group of 14 Matshelagabedi natives who voluntarily grouped themselves together for a noble gesture of football improvement in the village during December holidays, while at the same time giving back to the community since proceeds of the tournament are committed to a community project. Last year the Committee donated a printer to Matshelagabedi Primary School worth P9 000.00 and are due for another community project this year which is yet to be identified.
Thank you.
Issued by Tournament Organizers
15 January 2026
