Tim Sukazi: Kamogelo Sebelebele to Orlando Pirates a win for SA football

The Rockets agreed to sell the versatile 23-year-old to their Betway Premiership rivals ahead of the new season, which critics argue has weakened coach Adnan Beganovic’s squad.

Sukazi has consistently defended Galaxy’s model of developing talent and selling to top-flight clubs or even abroad, viewing it as a contribution to the broader game rather than a short-term setback.

"At TS Galaxy, we always apply reason to these matters. We are known now to be a club that affords opportunity to players, and when we do these transfers, we look at a number of variances," said Sukazi.

"Sometimes it could be reasons to the benefit of the club or it could be reasons to the benefit of football, or a balance of the two – we always try to strike some good balance in the end, and we obviously want to maintain our sustainability levels at our club.

"For example, a Kamogelo Sebelebele, who is a transfer not necessarily to the benefit of TS Galaxy, but to the benefit of football in South Africa, which we also look at as TS Galaxy.

"We are a club that's very aware and appreciative of its role within the game of football within the country, so we are a club that should be able to go out there in the unknown areas or levels of the game and discover talent, which will be national assets and serve the nation."

READ: Sebelebele named in Bafana squad for World Cup qualifiers

The chairman further insists that Sebelebele’s chances of breaking into the Bafana Bafana squad would have been slim had he stayed at Galaxy.

"But there's a way to it – and that way is, either these players at some point or another, maturing them out of our club so that they can play for older and bigger clubs internationally and so forth, which would then make them recognisable for the national team," he added.

"With the example of Sebelebele, if you know and have been watching TS Galaxy, the same performances he's dishing out for Pirates, he has been doing so for TS Galaxy.

"But we knew that he can continue doing so for the next five years at TS Galaxy, because his contract was extended until 2030, but he may not get the necessary recognition or a call-up into the main national team – why? Because he's playing for us.

"So the national selectors don't apply the same levels of judgement and decision when a player probably plays for a smaller club, as they do when they play for a bigger club.

"I can rest assure you that, if Sebelebele – as he continues to do what he's doing now for Orlando Pirates, he will be a regular feature in the national team. But this is not new to me, he has been doing the same for the past two seasons."