AFTER WANDERERS HAD RUN TO COURT: NO ‘WESLIANS’ RELEGATION IN AGM TODAY

MBABANE – The PLE Annual General Meeting (AGM) will go as planned today, but one item on the agenda will not be deliberated on.

The Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) will today hold its elective AGM at Sigwaca House, where the promotion and relegation of teams from both the MTN Premier League and MTN National First Division (NFD) is normally on the agenda. This item was going to be affected by the ongoing relegation saga between hub giants Manzini Wanderers and Denver Sundowns.

Protest

The Nyanga ‘Crooks’ Hlophe-led side lodged a protest over Sundowns’ Jimoh Moses and the Musa Manyatsi-coached side was summoned to appear before the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Disciplinary Committee (DC) for their alleged offence, which was chaired by Thulani Sibandze. The matter, after dragging for almost two months, was eventually concluded on August 1, 2024, after the EFA DC ruled against Wanderers.

Losing

The ‘Weslians’, after losing the case before the DC filed an appeal with the EFA Appeals Board. It was a non-starter on its first sitting as Sundowns’ legal representative Zakhele Dlamini was not available, as he was in France for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games as Chef de Mission for Team Eswatini. The second sitting was cut short after both parties noted that some of the records by the EFA DC were missing; this time it was done virtually for Dlamini to be part of the submissions. The final sitting saw Wanderers roping in South Africa Senior Counsel (SC) Advocate Norman Arendse to assist their legal team, which had Advocate Mduduzi ‘Tsotsi’ Mabila, Charles Jele and Governor Bongani ‘Bhanyaza’ Mdluli.

After the parties made their submissions, the chairperson adjourned the case requesting that he be given time to analyse the submissions and give the ruling the following day.
The Appeals Board eventually revealed the verdict, which is in the possession of this publication. They stated that accordingly, they found that there was no breach of the Compliance Manual of the Premier League of Eswatini, which was quoted by Wanderers. The Appeals Board then rejected the contention by the appellant, that the manual required a player to have a work permit on match day.The requirement for a work permit is at registration. The maroon and white hub giants immediately went to court seeking that item ‘M’ in the PLE 2024 Ordinary General Assembly (OGA), which is the notation of relegated member clubs from the premier league and national first Division be excluded during the OGA.

Heard

The matter was heard before Judge Bonginkosi Magagula, who granted the maroon and white outfit an interim order that Wanderers would not be pronounced as relegated today at the OGM, pending its review and declaratory urgent application. According to a source close to Wanderers, the team wants the decision of the EFA Appeals Board reviewed and also a declaratory order stating that Moses’ work permit is not valid. “The team also want the two players who played the match on May 19, 2024, to be declared to be in the country unlawfully as they did not have any permits at all when they played against us,” the source explained. The source declared that the ruling of the court meant that the relegation matter would not be part of the agenda today. Meanwhile, the PLE Football Manager Pat Vilakati could not be reached for comments on the matter by the time this report was compiled at 7:20pm last night. On the other hand, the matter will be fully argued on August 22, 2024, where Wanderers will be seeking that the order be confirmed final.

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