MBABANE – Mbabane Highlanders’ name change is currently stalled, pending final talks between Bheki ‘Rubber’ Simelane and President Shauwn ‘MaMkhize’ Mkhize.
The proposed name change for Mbabane Highlanders, which would have seen the club become Mbabane Highlanders AM FC, is currently on hold due to ongoing discussions between ‘Rubber’ and the club’s new President, ‘MaMkhize’, who have not yet reached a final agreement.
Changing a football club’s name typically involves several formal steps, including approval from the club’s leadership, shareholders or members, the national football association, the league and legal registration with government bodies, sometimes even trademarking the new brand.
According to insiders, the name change was contingent on successful negotiations between MaMkhize and Simelane, with an initial plan for MaMkhize to allegedly compensate Simelane for his involvement, likely for an undisclosed amount, depending on her affordability. However, as of yesterday, these talks had not yielded a final agreement on either the name change or the alteration of the Board of Governors.
Mandla Simelane, Rubber’s brother, confirmed that no name change has taken place because MaMkhize has not re-engaged them to finalise discussions, stating that they were waiting for MaMkhize to call them to finalise the talks and that if she doesnot communicate, they will remain officially listed in the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) records as the people tasked to lead the team.
Earlier yesterday, Richard Makhoba, the former Royal AM General Manager (GM)and now Highlanders’ new GM, was informed about the latest developments, and he stated that he would inform President MaMkhize.
Mandla also explained that while MaMkhize had spoken with Rubber late yesterday, their main point of discussion was for MaMkhize to engage Rubber’s lawyer, who had previously written to the club’s patrons after they ended his 18-month contract, just two months after he was unveiled as a director.
The patrons had cited Simelane’s alleged failure to submit monthly reports and his decision to provide players with incentives rather than regular salaries as reasons for the termination, to which Rubber had retaliated by demanding E1 million in compensation through his attorney, leading to back-and-forth exchanges between Simelane and the patrons until it was recently announced that the patrons had secured MaMkhize as the new club president.
More details in today’s paper.
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