Times Of Swaziland: PLE CEO’S E240 000 PAY DIVERTED!

PLE CEO’S E240 000 PAY DIVERTED!
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BY SABELO NDZINISA on 15/04/2020 01:07:00


MBABANE – The unpaid E240 000 salary for Premier League of Eswatini (PLE)
chief executive officer (CEO) is now being diverted to settle other
administrative costs in the organisation.
The organisation has been without a CEO for the past eight months following the
decision by the executive committee to terminate the contract of the incumbent
Simanga Nhleko on August 31 last year. For the record, Nhleko was reportedly
earning E30 000 monthly as CEO and his last payment was at the end of September
last year.
PLE Chairman Peter ‘Touch’ Magagula was contacted to shed light on the
matter and his explanation was that the CEO’s salary was not lying idle but
was being utilised for other administrative costs. He also clarified that the
CEO’s salary was being handled by the PLE, not the league sponsors, Eswatini
MTN, as suggested in certain quarters of the football fraternity.
“What happens is that as part of the league sponsorship, there are
administration costs which cover the salaries of PLE staff including the CEO.
Contractual negotiations only involve the PLE and the CEO, not MTN, which means
the salary agreed upon has nothing to do with the sponsor. We only provide them
with a report on the salary scale agreed with that particular CEO but the
sponsor is not involved in the negotiations,” Magagula explained.
Asked how the salary is being utilised now that there is no CEO, the PLE boss
stated that it was being channelled to administrative costs like paying
allowances for the Disciplinary Committee (DC) and Awards Committee.
Idle
“We have sub-contracted people working for the PLE who must be paid every
month and the salary of the CEO is now being used to settle those expenses
including the DC and Awards Committee. So, it is not like the CEO salary is
lying idle somewhere, it is being used for other official business of the
PLE,” Magagula said.
He was further asked on how far the process of hiring a new CEO had gone and he
responded by stating that this matter was still under discussion.
“The issue of the CEO is still on the table because there are a lot of things
we need to look at before identifying the ideal candidate. The public will be
informed as soon as a final decision has been taken,” Magagula said.
MTN’s Meshack Maseko was also reached for a comment but he asked to give his
response later, which never happened until the time of going to press.