“Hands off my club,” Mbabane Highlanders Director Alfred “Ali” Kgomogwe declared after the club’s players appeared at the Premier League Offices to demand gate takings from their derby with Mbabane Swallows.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. How can players approach PLE without talking to me as their Director? I expect anyone that wants to do anything with Mbabane Highlanders to talk to me first!”
But the Mbabane Highlanders Director is far away in Pretoria. Mbabane Highlanders patrons have now appointed a caretaker management to run the Club on his behalf – perhaps creating a two-head headache for the iconic Mbabane outfit.
The Pretoria based businessman may have reason for frustration. Since he stepped in to lead the Mbabane soccer giants, his experience has been a series of slow-moving crisis of disagreements.
Mbabane Highlanders appealed to Kgomogwe to sponsor the team in 2019. “We gave him 5 years to run the team,” says Mbabane Highlanders’ Patron’s Chairman, Thembumenzi Mamba.
But soon after Ali took over the club, tragedy struck. The toxic clouds of Covid-19 rolled in and covered the world in a blanket of death and disease. Lockdowns around the globe quickly evolved into stringent bans on public gatherings, cancelling tourism and eliminating all public events including church meetings. If anything, this crushed sports and entertainment.
Covid-19 aftermath
When the world emerged from the Covid-19 disaster, like anyone weary of bearing the costly carrying burden of keeping an inactive club together, Kgomogwe asked, and Highlanders’ leaders approved a proposal to incorporate the club as a company which would be easier to manage and control. The new management arrangement saw Ali take 80% of the shares; essentially ownership of the club. This was however a culture shock from which Mbabane Highlanders is still trying to recover.
Ali was good for the club – handing the team their own new bus and an up-market club house in Ezulwini. The mood was positive – but not everyone was happy. Cracks appeared almost immediately have refused to be papered over.
“We tried to engage the Director to discuss an agreement that would outline his scope,” Mr. Mamba recalls, but once the club was incorporated as a company, the horse had bolted. It was too late to place terms and conditions. The majority shareholder recoiled at what he would see as interference that would bring back the old ways of working from which they escaped by incorporating a company.
“I saw some members of the club on TV saying they would take the team. I said to myself: OK, let me step back so I can see how they would do that….”
The Club’s Patrons who hold 20% of the shares on behalf of members are now caught in the middle. They must be the voice of reason that strives to contain the fire-eaters on the extreme fringes of the club on the one hand; recognize the legal rights of the majority shareholder on the other while at the same time, cognizant of the need to protect the dignity and esteem of an institution that has been built over 70 years.
“We are all disturbed by the developments around the club but appeal for patience,” says Mr. Mamba. “Yes, things are not working well. But we are convinced that our problems will be resolved through dialogue,” Mamba said.
Meeting must be in Mbabane
Mamba says they have unsuccessfully tried to meet with the Director to discuss the club’s problems. “We hear through informal channels that he wants to meet us in Pretoria. But that’s not going to happen. The agreement was reached in Mbabane. The company is in Mbabane and the club is in Mbabane. We will be patient, but should he not meet with us, Highlanders will take the appropriate decision.” It is understood that the Patrons have given their Director 7 days to meet them, or else. Mr. Mamba however refused to confirm or deny the short deadline.
“Our problem is that we have to take things one step at a time within a fast-paced context that cannot accommodate our need for patience. We have to be cautious because we are operating a company here. We can’t take hasty decisions that we may later regret. There are rules and procedures we must follow. At the same time, we can see that our position is bad. There is no peace in the club. We need to restore peace and stability as these are essential qualities that will underpin even the performance and success of our team on the ground and bring good results. That is why we are working day and night to resolve this issue even though we know that our need for urgency is not reciprocated by others.”
One of the key triggers that demands action are Mbabane Highlanders players who deigned to step on the sport’s holy ground – the offices of the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) – setting a precedent that clearly displeased the PLE.
In one of the particularly symbolic demonstrations of Highlanders problems happened two weeks ago. The team went out to play against their arch rivals, Mbabane Swallows, a game considered the Derby of the season.
Though Highlanders came out second best, the gate takings were reportedly almost E150,000. Players who say they had not been paid, saw this as an opportunity to recover their salaries petitioned the Premier Soccer League administration asking the money be handed directly to them.
The measure so upset the PLE that acting CEO Petros Vilakati issued a stern warning that the club is skating on thin ice, and risked serious sanctions if it allowed people using its name to approach the PLE unceremoniously.
Petition upsets PLE
“PLE is made up of 28 member clubs. The agreed protocol is that each club gives us the names of people for official communication,” declared an aggravated PLE CEO Petros Vilakati.
“We do understand that within clubs there will be differences. We understand the situation at Mbabane Highlanders but we want to encourage them to use proper channels especially when they want to approach the PLE. We must note that club supporters have different temperaments; and if some happen to approach the PLE and are able to observe the expected protocol, they stand at risk of attracting serious censure.
Mr. Vilakati said they are sympathetic to teams that may have problems and are willing to help. “We advise members of clubs experiencing internal problems to form a committee that can then approach their management committee to present their problem to the PLE.”
“PLE is quite prepared to support teams that have resolve internal problems, but the key is to approach the PLE correctly,” he said.
Clearly, time and patience are essential qualities Highlanders need to embrace. But time is not on their side. The Patrons have decided to grab the Bull by the horns and this week announced a new interim committee that will seek to defrost the suspense at the club. Part of the functions of the committee is to ensure that Mbabane Highlanders continues to appear in PLE fixtures. Failure to do so, as that risk loomed large, would result in severe sanctions from the PLE. That on its own, is throwing the gauntlet. Now everyone is watching the direction from Pretoria for the next move of the Director.
Jm/today/20.11.2024
