Times Of Swaziland: LIZWE A MONENI PLAYER - STATUS COMMITTEE

LIZWE A MONENI PLAYER - STATUS COMMITTEE
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BY THEMBA ZWANE on 11/05/2021 08:37:00


MBABANE – It’s victory for Moneni Pirates.
This is after the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Players’ Status
Committee led by Sipho Matse ruled last night that Lizwe Zwane was a Moneni
Pirates’ player. The gifted youngster wants out of the ‘buccaneers’ of
Moneni to rejoin his parent team Young Buffaloes but it all did not go his way
after yesterday’s verdict by the committee. Zwane had taken Pirates to the EFA
Players’ Status Committee in a bid to rejoin ‘Amathole,’ where then both
teams and the player were invited to a hearing at Sigwaca House last Tuesday.
The matter was deferred to yesterday after Pirates requested to go and meet to
consult as they allegedly did not know Zwane’s intentions to join Buffaloes,
but were of the idea that he was just absent at training. The hearing that
lasted for almost an hour and a half last night then saw the committee ruling in
favour of Pirates. Buffaloes were represented by its two officials, Bright
Nxumalo and Thando ‘Va’ Nxumalo, while Pirates were represented by Mlungisi
‘Puma’ Simelane.
Battle
It appears the battle of the ownership of the player is far from over as
Buffaloes officials made it clear after the hearing that they were discontent
over the EFA Players’ Status Committee’s decision and were intending to
appeal. “We will appeal the decision because we believe the verdict that was
issued was based on what the committee had or presented to them without looking
at the authenticity of the so-called contract Pirates claimed to have had with
the player. “We will seek redress from the Appeals Board,” said Bright. He
added that Zwane was actually a Dwaleni Power Sparks player, but the committee
focused on the contract which was not valid.
Meanwhile, Simelane said the committee correctly ruled on the player’s status
based on the contract he signed with the team. “The player will decide if he
wants to stay at Moneni. We will talk to him and find out what his challenges
are because one may find that it is something we can address,” he said.
Simelane added that he believed there was still room for discussion and said he
was going back to report on what had transpired to the team management. He said
the matter had been finalised unless it was appealed to a different forum.