CALEB QUITS GREEN MAMBA

MBABANE – The revolving door is in full swing at Green Mamba.

Barely three days after four players, namely, Musa Dlamini, Thabiso Gumbi, Banele Mdluli and Mpendulo Mamba were off-loaded by the Correctional Services side, coach Caleb Ngwenya has also stepped down ahead of the start of the new season. Ngwenya tendered his resignation letter on Friday, ending a four-year stint at the green and white outfit.

Inyoka eluhlaza Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mandla Sibiya confirmed the departure at the coach. “Yes, it is true he resigned on Friday and there were no reasons that he gave us, he just tendered his resignation and we accepted it,” Sibiya said. The former Mbabane City coach signed a five-year contract with Green Mamba for four years, as he joined the side in the 2017/18 season; this means that he resigned with a year left in his contract. Ngwenya won the 2018/19 MTN Premier League and the SMVAF Ingwenyama Cup in the 2020 season while coaching the correctional side over the four years he spent with them. Sibiya said the Sitsebe head coach, Dumsani ‘DU’ Makhanya, would take the position of head coach for the green and white outfit.

deal

“Dumsani Mkhanya is stepping in for the head coach position, we are yet to conclude the deal with him,” he said. The CEO said he could not disclose the contractual agreement between Makhanya and the team for now as there were some issues that needed to be ironed out on the matter. It is worth noting that Makhanya is employed as a correctional officer with His Majesty’s Correctional Services. When asked whether Makhanya would resign as the head coach for Sitsebe, Sibiya said it was the coach who would give them the direction on that issue. “When we approached him, he did not hesitated but accepted the offer, I think he knows the procedures that are followed on the national team,” he said. Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Communications and Marketing Officer Muzi Radebe said nothing official had reached his office concerning the matter of Makhanya joining Green Mamba.

challenge

“There is no challenge in him joining Green Mamba because in the Women’s national team and the junior teams, it is not like the senior national team where a coach was involved on a full-time basis,” Radebe said. Makhanya is currently in camp with the senior women’s national team in preparation for the upcoming Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Zimbabwe. The game is scheduled for next week Wednesday away in Zimbabwe and the second match will be played a week after at Mavuso Sports Centre. Makhanya could not comment as he said was held up in a meeting with EFA CEO Fredrick Mngomezulu.

When contacted, Ngwenya wanted to know where this reporter got the information from. “Where did you get this from?” Ngwenya briefly asked and dropped his phone thereafter. The former Sihlangu coach is already being linked with a return to premier league rookies Vovovo, who were searching for a coach, after efforts to sign Sifiso ‘Nuro’ Ntibane from Tinyosi hit a snag.

Vovovo FC CEO Stan Dlamini said he was not aware of the team being linked with Ngwenya. “I haven’t yet received anything linking us with the coach, but if it happens to reach my office I will let you know,” Dlamini said. He said what he heard was that the team directors were planning to call a press conference next week, where all developments concerning the team would be announced. He, however, said he was yet to confirm with the relevant people as this matter was not for him to announce.

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