“We Can’t Even Buy Bread!” — Inside The Bitter Kruger Pay Strike And WhatsApp Group Purge

Kruger United players remain frustrated with the club’s treatment following their promotion to the Betway Premiership in May, with some now entering a second month without receiving their salaries.

Following a public confirmation from forward Kagiso Malinga that the squad has not received salaries since securing top-flight promotion, another first-team player—speaking to Sportswire on condition of strict anonymity—revealed that the dressing room has been plunged into absolute poverty.

Furthermore, the club has allegedly begun a ruthless purge, axing players from the official team WhatsApp groups without formal communication. Sportswire has viewed verified screenshots confirming the unceremonious removal of several players.

Kruger United dramatically clinched their historic promotion to the Betway Premiership last month after winning the Motsepe Foundation Championship.

Yet, the euphoria of that achievement has quickly soured into a bitter contractual nightmare. Players have been kicked out of the rental apartments, because they have not paid.

It is rumoured that coach Abraham Mongoya instructed the club to pay the players who helped win the promotion and not those who played rarely.

“Since the league concluded up until today, we have not seen a single cent of our money,” the distraught player told Sportswire on Thursday, 18 June.

“When we demand clarity on when our salaries will be settled, the club management explicitly tells us they don’t know.”

“Today is 18 June. We are the champions who just won promotion to the top flight, yet I am sitting at home unable to buy a single loaf of bread. How can you be a champion and not afford bread? Some of us have been abruptly removed from the team WhatsApp group. The club casually told us we are not in their plans for the upcoming Betway Premiership season, yet they haven’t even paid us what they owe us for our labor.”

The player directed his fury squarely at the club’s administrative leadership, alleging a long-standing pattern of contractual breaches.

“The person who makes me completely furious is our general manager, Elasto Kapowedza. The club is in this chaotic state because of Elasto. Since the very day I signed with Kruger, I don’t remember ever getting my salary on time. They have breached my contract from the word go, but I kept quiet and played my heart out. Our contracts are expiring at the end of the month, they owe us two months of money, and the hierarchy is completely silent.”

When Sportswire confronted Kapowedza in a heated exchange regarding the exact date the players were last paid, the administrator grew defensive and fiercely evasive.

“The players are contracted to the club, and the club will honor those contracts,” Kapowedza fired back.

“We would not have won promotion if the players were not being paid. The club will fully honor its legal obligations until 30 June. Like I said to you, the club has always honored player contracts, and that remains the current status quo. Thank you for your time.”

With 30 June rapidly approaching, the stranded players are currently locked in consultations with player union representatives to force Kruger United into settling the outstanding debt before the new top-flight season commences.