Swazi Observer

FULL STORY

HANDS-OFF SIKELELA MHLANGA! - HIGHLANDERS

By Sibongiseni Zondi | 2018-04-24

SOCCER- MBABANE Highlanders have defended Management Committee (MC) member Sikelela Mhlanga, who has been accused of selling the club out during their defeat to Manzini Wanderers in the SwaziBank Cup semifinals on April 15.

Soon after Highlander’s 0-2 defeat to their rivals, rumours started circulating that Mhlanga had contributed to the defeat by selling his club out. Highlanders have now cleared the MC member of any wrongdoing, with CEO Celucolo ‘Dino’ Dlamini declaring Mhlanga’s innocence live on national radio during the Sports Show yesterday morning.

Interviewed by the Swazi Observer sports desk yesterday, Dlamini once again stressed that Mhlanga had not sold Highlanders out.

“As the leader of the current MC, this hasn’t sat down well with me. Let me take this opportunity again to say it out that Sikelela Mhlanga did not sell us out. He is a dedicated servant of this club. It’s sad that supporters say they got this information from people within the MC. People within the MC should remember what their role is. Let us spend time improving the club and our players not waste time dealing with MC squabbles. I had to go and clear Mhlanga’s name to the directors and luckily they understood,” Dlamini said. The astute sports administrator then bemoaned the fact that such things were a common occurrence at Highlanders. “Unfortunately, this is part of the culture at Highlanders. When we win, we don’t congratulate people. But once we lose, we start finger pointing. It is wrong and we have to change it. Let’s win together and lose together. We will be meeting later today (yesterday) and we hope we will be able to sort out all these things,” Dlamini concluded.

Highlanders were knocked out of the SwaziBank Cup semifinals by Manzini Wanderers during a match played at Somhlolo National Stadium, something that did not sit well with some of the team’s fans, who sensed sabotage within the team’s structures. The ‘Black Bull’ returned to winning ways when the beat Moneni Pirates in an MTN Premier League match played at King Sobhuza II Stadium on Sunday.

share story