WANDERERS INGWENYAMA CUP BID FAILS

MBABANE – Dismissed!

This is the certificate of urgency which was filed by the inactive Manzini Wanderers seeking the intervention of the High Court to be included in the 2024/25 SMVAF Ingwenyama Cup. This was after the ‘Weslians’ were excluded in the draw, which was conducted this past Monday at the sponsor’s headquarters in Mbabane.

The matter, which dragged for almost eight hours, was before Judge Bongani S Dlamini, who after hearing the submissions dismissed Wanderers’ case. The ruling automatically ruled the maroon and white hub giants out of the richly-sponsored tournament in the country.

It is worth mentioning that Wanderers, through their legal representatives SM Jele Attorneys, took the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Competitions Committee (CC) to court for allegedly omitting them in the draw. The EFA CC was represented by Sabela Dlamini from Magagula Hlophe Attorneys.

The matter was initially penned to start at 11am and was adjourned after Dlamini suggested that the parties find an amicable solution on matter. He said he was concerned about why the parties were not discussing the matter, as each of them had 50 per cent rights on it. “You should find a solution pending the Supreme Court ruling,” the judge said.

When the matter resumed at 3pm, the Judge wanted to know the outcome of the parties and it was brought to his attention that they could not reach an agreement. EFA CC’s representative Dlamini said it was difficult for Wanderers to participate in the tournament as they were not registered with the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE).
Wanderers, through Advocate Mduduzi ‘Tsotsi’ Mabila, who was instructed by SM Jele Attorneys, insisted that the ‘Weslians’ are registered and wondered why they were allowed to play in the 2024 8Bet Trade Fair Cup if they were not a registered team with the PLE.

“We are not saying that the draw should be conducted again, but we are ready to face even the standby. We request that we be fixtured,” Mabila said. Dlamini said in the 8Bet tournament, the PLE used the 2023/24 MTN Premier League standing, which made Wanderers eligible to play. The matter, which seemed going to Wanderers’ way, took a drastic turn when the PLE legal representative Meluleki Ndlangamandla from MLK Ndlangamandla Attorneys said the EFA CC has nothing to do with the matter and it was the Ingwenyama Cup Management Committee (MC) which was supposed to be brought before court.

The judge after hearing this said Wanderers cited the CC wrongly as they are not a legal entity, he suggested that the team’s representatives should have cited its members, especially the chairman. He finally passed his final judgement at around 8:30pm, which went against Wanderers favour, ultimately ruling them out of the Ingwenyama Cup for the first time in their history.

“After having heard the submissions from all parties, I dismissed the case with cost,” he said. Meanwhile, Mabila said they were yet to sit down and plan the next step after losing this close to eight hours battle. It is worth noting that the richly-sponsored tournament in the country will continue as planned across the country today.

A comparable situation to Manzini Wanderers’ case being dismissed can be seen in the saga involving Italian club Juventus in the aftermath of the infamous 2006 Calciopoli match-fixing scandal. In the wake of the scandal, Juventus were demoted to Serie B and stripped of their most recent Serie A title, but the club immediately launched a legal challenge against the decision.

However, their efforts proved futile, as their case was dismissed by the Italian courts, leaving Juventus with no choice but to accept the punishment and begin their journey back to Serie A from the lower division.

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