MANAVHELAHE WANT SANDTON IN ESWATINI – ALLY

MBABANE - Former Tshakuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM) goalkeeper Bongani Manavhela is said to have made huge demands at Mbabane Highlanders.

Reportedly already gone back to South Africa (SA), Manavhela was yet to feature in an official game for Highlanders after being signed last month during the second transfer window. Responding to this publication yesterday on the allegedly owed signing-on fee, Highlanders’ SA Managing Director (MD) Chief Ally Kgomongwe dismissed Manavhela’s claim of the owed signing-on fee.

“I never negotiated with him, but the team manager and the coach Solly and no issue of signing-on fee was agreed on. If there’s an issue of money, then he must call me directly because as is, I will say he must stop saying things that aren’t true. “The real reason he left is because he started making demands, wanting a Sandton in Eswatini, but we can’t bring it all the way from SA to Eswatini for him. He wants a luxurious car, big apartment for himself and family, as well as food supply and we can’t give him when we have a clubhouse. Secondly, what contribution has he given us because we have Khanyakwezwe, a national team goalkeeper? Personally, I wanted a striker or defender signed, but my coach wanted him,” Kgomongwe claimed.

Agreement

He said his management at Highlanders had also not informed him about the signing-on fee, but insisted that should such agreement exist, then Manavhela only needed to call him and he will be paid. He then recalled how former Orlando Pirates midfielder Thamsanqa Sangweni also made such demands before later apologising to him and then got signed by Chippa United.

“There are a lot of South Africans willing to play for Highlanders, but one thing I always say to them is that this is not the PSL, they need to go there with an open mind that they have to adjust to the environment and stop undermining Eswatini,” Kgomongwe explained.

He said Eswatini was a nice place, but if you came from SA’s Premier Soccer League (PSL), you needed to be ready to adapt to the new environment as the PSL and Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) were two different entities, especially when it came to financial power. He said Highlanders and its competitors received no subventions so there was nowhere money for luxury could come from, while they were also currently playing in the league only with no other competitions.

In response to the MD’s statement, the player said he never even at once spoke to him after signing with the team. “I use channels of communication in the team which doesn’t allow me to talk to him directly, so I don’t even know where he might be getting that from, but it doesn’t really bother me because I know there’s no such,” he said.

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