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MBABANE – Stylish Mbabane Swallows midfielder Banele ‘Pupu’ Sikhondze is in hot soup.
Reports suggested that he could be fined up to E3 000 if found guilty by an internal disciplinary committee (DC).
The ex-South Africa’s Polokwane City player is said to have irked his employers after allegedly failing to join his teammates in camp last Saturday ahead of their Y’ello Sunday MTN Premier League clash against Moneni Pirates. He was a notable absentee in the game, as he did not make the match day squad.
“He reported an injury when he arrived at the camp base and told the coaches he was not staying because he couldn’t play the Moneni Pirates game. Unfortunately, this did not go down well with the technical bench of Musa Manyatsi and Siyabonga Bhembe, but he still left. He was part of the starting eleven, so you can imagine. The coaches had already
MBABANE – World soccer governing body FIFA has paid a glowing tribute to Eswatini top referee Letticia Viana.
This was through an article titled, ‘Letticia Viana: Blowing whistles beyond Eswatini borders’, which has been published on the official FIFA website. Viana has been commended for setting milestones as a FIFA-accredited referee.
The 37-year-old recently became the first Eswatini referee to officiate in the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) section of FIFA Under-17s Women’s World Cup in India recently. Viana is been told the player was active in ‘kasi’ (stokvel) matches at Msunduza,” a source close to the club claimed.
It was also established that the team doctors also responded to the negative when questioned if they knew anything about the injury claimed by Sikhondze. He missed the game the next day which his team narrowly won 1-0 against Pirates at Mavuso Sports Centre in Manzini. For his alleged participation, in the unofficial games, usually referred to as ‘stokvel’ and missing the team’s camp after defying his coaches, he faces disciplinary action and if found guilty, he risks having at least E3 000 of his salary slashed and a possible two-match suspension as punishment.
The Beautiful Birds, as Swallows are also fondly known, had to replace Sikhondze immediately in the line-up. The team’s General Manager Sandile ‘Beyond 2000’ Zwane did not divulge much on the matter, but did not deny it either. He said they were handing the matter as a team.