By Chris Dlamini
The MTN Premier League champions Mbabane Swallows are yet to be officially presented their E1 million prize, but there is already infighting.
There is now a brewing storm between the club and its elder, former Member of Parliament (MP) Robert Magongo. The latter was very close to the team when slain Chairman Victor ‘Maradona’ Gamedze was in charge before his 2018 demise.
Magongo was back then close to joining Gamedze as a director, but the latter financially took control of all things red and white at Umkhonto KaShaka (Swallows).
As the team held a braai on Tuesday to celebrate its league success and return to the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League, Magongo also held his meeting to appoint a Mbabane Swallows Elders Committee in which he turned out as its chairman.
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This all happened in Ezulwini. Magongo’s meeting was around The Gables Complex while the team had its celebrations at All Nations Church where their training base is.
The elders Committee was appointed in the morning hours but the news got to Swallows management, bereaved former president and All Nations Church Leader Archbishop Bheki Lukhele as well as the now dissolved elders structure led by Absalom Ngwenya later.
It was at that moment that there was a decision to do away with the structure, unrecognised anywhere in football rules and regulations including even at the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) level.
Ngwenya denounced the structure and put it in no uncertain terms that they no longer existed but a Board of Directors (BoDs) structure will be put in place. He cited Magongo as the main reason they reached this long overdue decision as he explained it was a cancer for local football that has destroyed many clubs.
Meanwhile, the pronouncement of the dissolved structure was met with fury as Magongo briefly said he was doing it on the strength of the Swallows constitution and promised to call a press conference.
The elder’s issue went on to be a topic on Channel S television’s People and Places talk show on Wednesday evening where Magongo was expected to attend but had to be sought virtually according to close sources.
However, one Swallows elder, Musa Magongo was hosted and he spoke at length about the issue, in agreement with the latest decision to do away with the non-football structure.
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“Robert Magongo will be banned. I will ban him as Acting President of Mbabane Swallows. What he did is way offline and I will write to him a letter to ban him from our VIP section. He cannot conduct himself like this, it’s disrespectful to the club and Lukhele who has helped us a lot. He will lose his VIP seat in our games but be an ordinary supporter,” Ngwenya said on Friday morning when questioned about the Channel S programme in which some of those who watched it alleged the former legislator referenced it all to the late Gamedze.
What is valuable to mention is that the late Gamedze had long discarded such elders’ structures in local football to the point he never recognised even those at his own club. He had already seen the negative influence and power without money to help the teams in giants like now relegated Manzini Wanderers and Mbabane Highlanders who remain the most decorated team domestically but also got relegated once.
“There can never be anything like an elders structure at Mbabane Swallows as of Tuesday when we dissolved the structure. I’m the only one left and only as acting president of the team. That gives me the power to action this further and ban Magongo if I must,” Ngwenya said.
He also clarified that the team’s constitution was signed by him, so it was baffling how then Magongo would cite the same. On another note, Musa Magongo was called as well and he repeated what he said in People and Places.
“Robert Magongo came to Swallows from Bulembu Young Aces and Ngwenya was already there. If you don’t know Ngwenya then you don’t know Swallows because our players were employed by his company. I joined the team ahead of both,” he said.
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Musa expressed his disappointment at the way things were unfolding especially from someone of Magongo’s calibre.
“He’s a lightweight at Swallows and I hope he listens as he must stop this or I will also personally call for his VIP status ban in the club. We will write to the PLE and inform them of our position,” he said.
Musa explained that Swallows have been through worse before and got past it.
“This is not the Old Testament era but the New Testament where even the constitution is pointless as we now talk club licensing as the guiding tool for football,” he said.
He also explained that having a Board of Directors (BoDs) was the way to go and these would be vetted.
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“If you want to be on the board, then you must be aware there will be set standards and it won’t matter how much money you have. We will vet the directors. As is, the only elder is Ngwenya but also only as acting president,” Musa said.
Meanwhile, Magongo, the ex-legislater from Motshane was called for comment on the possible ban for his actions.
“I will state what they’re doing and they’ll be criminally charged,” Magongo responded without expansion.
He had also been quoted by one of the local dailies on Saturday as saying they would fight this after the funeral of Lukhele’s father out of respect for the former club president.
