Meshack Motloung and Mcelwa Nchabeleng

Meshack Motloung and Mcelwa Nchabeleng

It's war, gloves off and bare knuckles between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates over the services of talented forward Siphelele Mthembu.

The KwaZulu-Natal player seemingly will not kick a ball, at least for now, as Chiefs have decided to appeal against the PSL Dispute Resolution Chamber's verdict last week that ruled that Mthembu belonged to Pirates.

Amakhosi's boss Kaizer Motaung and his counterpart at Pirates, Irvin Khoza, were to meet to thrash out the matter on Monday, but the meeting did not materialise because they had other engagements.

Premier Soccer League prosecutor Zola "Javas" Majavu yesterday confirmed that Chiefs had appealed against the verdict.

Pirates might have won the case but Mthembu will not feature for them until the matter is resolved.

Chiefs' communications manager Siya Makhunga said they decided to appeal against the verdict because "we felt that we have grounds to pursue this matter further".

"To see that a fair outcome is achieved, this was done following a prudent consideration and interrogation of the verdict in consultation with our legal team and the player's parents," Makhunga said.

Mthembu has been training with Amakhosi and had also played for Chiefs in the off-season Vodacom Challenge and Telkom Charity Cup.

When Sowetan contacted Mthembu for comment regarding the saga, the former Maritzburg City player was reluctant to talk more about the issue.

But when pressed he only said: "I can tell you that I know nothing about the developments of this case because nobody told me anything about it."

Said Majavu: "I will write to the two parties to recommend that they take the matter straight to arbitration to save time. I'm afraid that it can drag to the new year."