Soccer stars off the hook

Charges have been dropped against soccer players Andile Jali and Ndumiso Mabena, who were involved in a brawl at a popular Johannesburg restaurant at the weekend.

Jali, a Bafana Bafana midfielder, and his Orlando Pirates teammate Ndumiso Mabena were arrested on Sunday after IT specialist Kagisho Molora, 26, laid charges of assault and theft against them.

The players upped the ante by laying counter-charges against Molora.

But yesterday all charges were withdrawn in the Randburg Magistrate's Court after an agreement to do so by the three.

Senior prosecutor Rassie Erasmus and the defence teams agreed to drop the respective charges on their clients' behalf.

The arrest of Jali and Mabena on Sunday followed a brawl at the News Cafe in Woodmead, northern Johannesburg.

Molora told police the soccer players had slapped and kicked him after a bitter argument just before 1am on Saturday.

He said that during the fight, his Levi's watch had gone missing and he laid a charge of theft against the players.

Yesterday, there were conflicting reports about what, in fact, had happened.

Molora's lawyer, Walter Nabane, said the fight was simply a case of "boys being boys".

"We decided to withdraw after realising that there was no substance in the allegations and felt that proceeding with the case would be a waste of the court's valuable time," he said.

But the players' attorney, Japi Malatji, said his clients had told him Molora had harassed one of the three women they were dining with.

"The women were returning from the toilet when Molora, who was in the company of four other men, began following them."

Molora allegedly made loud remarks about one of the women, saying how beautiful she was. This irritated Jali, who gestured to him to stop, his lawyer said.

"According to Jali, Molora then began slapping him and was joined by his four friends, who happened not to have been arrested," he said.

Malatji said Mabena had returned from the men's room to find the four attacking Jali and he had tried, in vain, to break up the fight. The brawl was eventually stopped by the restaurant manager and security guards.

All three men refused to comment yesterday.