VICTORY FOR WANDERERS SUPPORTERS IN COURT!

MBABANE – The High Court has ordered Manzini Wanderers to convene an urgent mass meeting within 14 days to iron out their differences.

The team’s directors took the side’s Elders Chairman, Sipho Ntshalintshali and six aggrieved supporters led by Majayivane Dlamini to court. They were seeking an order interdicting and restraining the respondents from being part of the team’s activities, among other prayers.
Thursday marked the date for arguments in the matter. High Court Judge Sipho Nkosi, who frowned on taking football matters to court before exhausting internal remedies, did not rule on the prayer but told a packed court that Ntshalintshali should arrange the meeting involving all the team’s structures, saying it should be chaired by an independent chairman. The team’s Patron, Reverend Advocate Percy Mngomezulu, was recommended as the rightful candidate to chair the gathering.

 A relieved Ntshalintshali told fellow team’s loyalists soon after the hearing that he would meet with the rest of the Elders to map a way forward. An agenda for the gathering is expected to be finalised during the same meeting. The mass meeting is tentatively set to take place next weekend.
The side’s supporters had crammed the court gallery. Court ‘E’ proved too small and could be mistaken for a Wanderers’ stand as it was painted maroon and white. However, they were not armed with vuvuzelas and were obviously not allowed to sing. They were smiling from ear to ear after the pronouncement and would have easily thrown a party just at the entrance of the High Court.

Meanwhile, in his founding affidavit, Sandile ‘Chief’ Dlamini, who is part of the team’s leadership, had alleged, through lawyers from Mkhwanazi Attorneys, that the restraining order was sought because the respondents allegedly instigated acts of violence and threats towards some members of the executive committee.
The defence, in their papers, had argued that only the National Football Association of Swaziland (NFAS) had a right to ban supporters from matches.
The debate on locus standi (the right or capacity to bring an action or to appear in a court) expectedly took place. The general feeling of the court was that the decision to register the team as a company in April 1994 was mainly for formalising the structures. This follows the heated debate on the ownership of the team.

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