Ten days after they were originally meant to receive their salaries, Southern Kings players, staff and coaches have yet to be paid for the month of April.

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Last week, Kings management sent a letter promising that the salaries would be paid by Thursday, 30 April but that deadline came and went without the players getting paid.

A source in the organisation confirmed that staff and players had yet to be paid as of Tuesday morning and that they had been promised that salaries would be paid on Tuesday.

“We were told yesterday (Monday) that today (Tuesday) was going to be the pay day and they were going to make the transfer this morning,” the source that spoke on condition of anonymity told Sport24.

“We are all still waiting.”

In a City Press report over the weekend, Kings equity partners the Greatest Rugby Company in the Whole Wide World and the Eastern Province Rugby Union (EPRU) blamed each other for the delay in staff payments. In the report, the EPRU was accused of intercepting the municipality payment, claiming it was owed money by the private consortium.

The wrangle over the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality R6 million bailout had apparently resulted in delays in the funds being transferred to the franchise.

According to another source, this would be the second amount of R6 million paid out to the Kings in the same financial year and that the Kings had originally asked for a R10 million bailout – to which the municipality responded by assuring only R6 million could be paid.

The amateur wing EPRU’s president Andre Rademan released a statement on Tuesday calling the franchise’s failure to pay staff and players “not only unacceptable but also regrettable in these circumstances that we are facing.”

“EPRU has requested an urgent stakeholders meeting has been requested within seven days to try address these important matters,” said Rademan.

“Furthermore, the union has in no circumstances tried to block or encourage the non-payment on Southern Kings from the municipality as it has been reported out there. After the stakeholders meeting, EPRU will hold a press conference on way forward.”

Players union, MyPlayers, are also said to be meeting with Kings management regarding the unpaid salaries but they remained tight-lipped as to the details of the discussions.

This is a developing story …