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MMBABANE – Capital City giants Mbabane Highlanders are set to lose shot-stopper Bongani Manavhela.
The agile goalkeeper reportedly wants out of the team after the alleged failure by the Mbabane giants to pay him his signing-on fee. The former Tshakuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM) shot-stopper signed for Highlanders early last month together with Mandla Palma and Fabrice Mopina. According to a source within the Highlanders camp ,the goalkeeper has left the club after the Mbabane giants failed to pay him his signing-on fee, as per the agreed contract before he signed on the dotted line. “Bongani Manavhela left the team after Highlanders failed to pay him his signing-on fee
BABANE – Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) Executive Member Charles Matsebula has come out guns blazing in reaction to Mbabane Swallows General Manager (GM) Sandile ‘Beyond 2000’ Zwane’s statement early in the week.
The Pigg’s Peak Black Swallows Chairman was addressing the media in a press briefing which was held at Galito’s in Mbabane yesterday, when reacting to the statement which was made by Zwane on national radio, the Eswatini Broadcasting and Information Services (EBIS 1) Sports Show on Monday.
The Umkhonto KaShaka GM publicly denounced the leadership of the PLE and said it was wrong that big teams in
Mwhich the team had promised to give him,” alleged the source.
The source revealed to the management that his wife was in a bad space after losing their child after giving birth and had to be with him to comfort her.
The goalkeeper has been a notable absentee in Highlanders’ last two MTN Premier League in games against Madlenya FC and in last Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of defending champions Royal Leopard. The last time Manavhela was in the Highlanders match-day squad was mid last month, in a game that Inkunzi Emnyama played against Mahlanya-based side Seven Dreams, where Solly Luvhengo’s charges won 2-0, courtesy of goals from Banele ‘Stiga’ Ndzabandzaba and Kenneth Moloto.
BABANE - Former Tshakuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM) goalkeeper Bongani Manavhela is said to have made huge demands at Mbabane Highlanders.
Reportedly already gone back to South Africa (SA), Manavhela was yet to feature in an official game for Highlanders after being signed last month during the second transfer window.
Responding to this publication yesterday on the allegedly owed signing-on fee, Highlanders’ SA Managing Director (MD) Chief Ally Kgomongwe dismissed Manavhela’s claim of the owed signing-on fee. “I never negotiated with him, but the team manager and the Coach Solly and no issue of signing-on fee was agreed on. If there’s an issue of money, then he must call me directly because as is, I will say he
Healing
Manavhela, when quizzed on the latest developments, he said he was still focusing on his family. “I’m still focusing on healing with my family for now honestly I do not must stop saying things that aren’t true.
“The real reason he left is because he started making demands, wanting a Sandton in Eswatini, but we can’t bring it all the way from SA to Eswatini for him. He wants a luxurious car, big apartment for himself and family, as well as food supply and we can’t give him when we have a clubhouse. Secondly, what contribution has he given us because we have Khanyakwezwe, a national team goalkeeper? Personally, I wanted a striker or defender signed, but my coach wanted him,” Kgomongwe claimed.
Agreement
He said his management at Highlanders had also not informed him about the signing-on fee, but insisted that should such agreement exist, then Manavhela only needed to call him and he will be paid. He then recalled how former Orlando Pirates midfielder Thamsanqa Sangweni also made such demands before later apologising to him and then got signed by Chippa United. “There are a lot of South have much strength to be thinking about all this. Hopefully we can talk about this some other time,” he said briefly.
Reached for comment, Highlanders Public Relations Officer (PRO) Kenneth Dlamini said he was yet to learn about the latest developments. The source later revealed that the player was going to be back in the country on the Sunday game against Green Mamba once Highlanders settled his signing-on fee.
In an almost similar incident, in August last year South Africa’s Daily Sun reported that Manavhela unceremoniously left his team JDR Stars after just three weeks. He reportedly sent me a message asking to be released from his contract through WhatsApp.
The 29-year-old requested to be released from his one-year-deal with immediate effect, which he signed to be extend for a year. Manavhela was Highlanders’ fifth player. Other imports are Kenneth Moloto,Tony ‘Ben 10’ Machacha, Lesotho’s Tshwarelo Bereng and Fabrice Mopina.
Africans willing to play for Highlanders, but one thing I always say to them is that this is not the PSL, they need to go there with an open mind that they have to adjust to the environment and stop undermining Eswatini,” Kgomongwe explained.
He said Eswatini was a nice place, but if you came from SA’s Premier Soccer League (PSL), you needed to be ready to adapt to the new environment as the PSL and Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) were two different entities, especially when it came to financial power. He said Highlanders and its competitors received no subventions so there was nowhere money for luxury could come from, while they were also currently playing in the league only with no other competitions.
In response to the MD’s statement, the player said he never even at once spoke to him after signing with the team. “I use channels of communication in the team which doesn’t allow me to talk to him directly, so I don’t even know where he might be getting that from, but it doesn’t really bother me because I know there’s no such,” he said.
Lille