World body FIFPro joins in pressing for Miheso justice

The professional footballers’ union, FIFPro, has become the latest organization to rally their support for Kenyan international Clifton Miheso who was controversially forced out of South African soccer club, Golden Arrows.

FIFPro, which defends the rights of 65,000 professional footballers worldwide, posted a statement on its official Twitter handle pressing South African Football Players Union (SAFPU) and South African authorities to bring Miheso’s assailants to justice.

In the chilling incident – whose details were first published on Citizen Digital – the 23-year-old winger was pressured by two men carrying guns to sign a document agreeing to terminate his contract with Golden Arrows.

The pair arrived at the club’s offices on January 14 and ordered Miheso to sign a document agreeing to accept less than one month of pay from the remaining six months of his contract.

When details of the threat emerged in the media, Miheso said he was put under pressure by the club to write a statement that the gun threat did not happen. He also withdrew a complaint to police.

The former AFC Leopards player has since returned to the country where he is now demanding half a million Rand (about Ksh3.86 million)for “harassment, breach of contract and unlawful termination of contract.”

“We are deeply concerned that any player should have to face such an ordeal, and then allegedly be made to cover up the truth to protect the club and its officials,” FIFPro General Secretary Theo van Seggelen said.

“We urge the South African football federation to take what happened to Clifton Miheso very seriously,” Thulaganyo Gaoshubelwe, SAFPU General Secretary, said. “The boy was under duress. He was very, very scared. It is only now he’s back in Kenya that he speaks freely.”

“The boy was under duress. He was very, very scared. It is only now he’s back in Kenya that he speaks freely.”

The recently-published 2016 FIFPro Global Employment Report found young and foreign players are more vulnerable to abuse, with foreigners more than twice as likely to face discrimination as domestic footballers.

Last week, SAFPU reported that findings from private investigations held in South Africa indicated a gun had indeed been held to Miheso’s head in what was a horrific end to his six-month stay at the club.