THERE are important lessons to be learned in the struggle for survival of the top big league soccer league teams. The top three most important soccer clubs that have dominated domestic soccer for almost 100 years – Mbabane Highlanders, Manzini Wanderers and Mbabane Swallows are currently floundering.
Mbabane Highlanders has tasted relegation and managed to claw their way back; Manzini Wanderers were relegated. But they are still out in the cold of limbo. Legal technicalities were good enough to prevent their fall into the lower First Division but not good enough to keep them in the 2024 League.
Defending champions Mbabane Swallows continued to soar on the strong momentum created by their erstwhile dynamo, the late Victor Gamedze. The wind started missing its sails as soon as he died. His successors abandoned whatever systems he left in place. Just a year after he passed, the club’s leaders started searching for a replacement benefactor who could pay the bills while they retained control. Bishop Bheki Lukhele who stepped into Gamedze’s shoes, quietly packed and left in disappointment after 4 years of unsuccessfully trying to steer the club.
A year after his departure, Bishop Lukhele told the Sports Show on Eswatini Radio that the club administrators “dealt with me in bad faith from ‘day one.’”
Lukhele said he stepped in as club director in July 2019, after he was asked to help the club by a delegation representing Swallows elders, led by its acting president, Absalom Ngwenya appealed for help in paying Swallows players.
“When I came into the club I found Swallows had nothing. There was nothing in the bank. They did not even have a jersey. I had to start from scratch.”
“The Club had a team bus was on hire purchase with the banks. I suggested that the hire purchase agreement be transferred from the club company to the club so that I could pay for it, but this didn’t happen. I later found that the bus was in arrears of E465 thousand. We were preparing for a league game the next day when the bank repossessed the bus.”
Lukhele was soon to be exposed to the realities of the architecture of people’s clubs and the close-knit brotherhood of inner circles around which power in the club revolves. His first shock at Swallows was to realize that only his money earned him relevance and importance in the club. Otherwise whether he knew or consented, club decisions could be taken.
“When I came into the club, Nyanga Hlophe was the coach. Next thing he was gone. I can’t tell you what happened to him. No one told me anything. When I tried to find out, I learnt that a decision had been taken in my interest because of a notion that that I would want to work with my own people. This was not true.”
This would not be the last surprise.
“Subsequently team management recruited Janza from Zambia. They highly recommended him to me as the best man to move the team forward. But shortly after his arrival, they set upon him, and threatened him with violence and eventually fired him in breach of contract. I had to carry the cost of contract termination.
“Next was Christopher Enim. They recommended him too but after he played a few games they attacked him. He had to run to the Nhlangano police for protection in the violence, some cars were damaged. Again I had to pay the costs.”
Eventually, I recruited Caleb Ngwenya in the confidence that they would respect him better because they knew him well since he was a Swazi. Indeed, that seemed to work.
“They originally asked me to take care of players’ salaries. On that basis I understood my financial exposure and budget, not knowing that I would be required to pay so many other costs.
Lukhele said he decided to leave the club after he realized the club stalwarts treated him as a cash-cow that they would milk dry and were dealing with him in bad faith. There were many instances when we would discuss issues and agree, only to discover that the other party were not transparent about their reasons and pursued hidden agendas.
“When I came into the club, it rented a clubhouse for E15,000. As soon as I came in, the rent shot up to E25,000 per month. Similarly, the club office rental shot up to E10,000. I was surprised and wondered if this is how you treat someone from whom you have asked for help?”.
That was the main reason that convinced me I could not continue this way; hence my decision to step back and step down.
Lukhele says he was recruited in 2019 by a high-powered Swallows team that begged him to rescue the club that was floundering following its owner, Victor Gamedze’s death in 2018.
“Because I was aware of the club’s history, my question to the delegation led by Club President Absalom Ngwenya was: ‘Who are you and in what capacity are you asking for my help?. They said they were Mbabane Swallows”.
“Since Princess Lungile was absent yet I knew she owned the club, I wanted to know if she was aware they were talking to me. They said they had informed her, but she could not join the team because she was not well. They said she had opted to step down from leading the club because managing a soccer club had proven to be too much for her. I later confirmed this with her in a meeting in the presence of her lawyers at her Queensgate Office where Mr. Ngwenya was also present.
My arrival at the club was warmly welcomed at a reception at the Happy Valley. Princess Lungile was represented by her brother, the late Mandla Dlamini who spoke on her behalf.
When I reviewed by experiences with the club, I reached a decision to quit, and resigned in January 2024.
Even though I am Mbabane Swallows at heart. This is my team that I love. I continue to be part of the Swallows family. I will not abandon them but, I’m no longer in leadership.
Bishop Lukhele’s experience at Swallows mirrors that of Ali Khomogwe at Mbabane Highlanders. He too stepped into a people’s club in 2019. Even though the club elders agreed for the Highlanders to be incorporated into a company, the club members have refused to transform their character and culture to conform to the new club status.
Though essentially the club owner, Kgomogwe is now the outsider estranged from his own club that continues to operate without him.
Eswatini soccer has become a very expensive business. It is inevitable that outside clubs that enjoy government backing, all clubs must secure sponsors with deep pockets. To provide for a workable long-term sustainable relationship, clubs must be prepared to reconstitute themselves and adopt appropriate cultures consistent with the rule of law and their new corporate status.
