Times Of Swaziland: PIRATES ELDERS ACISHE LO-MLILO!

PIRATES ELDERS ACISHE LO-MLILO!
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BY LWAZI DLAMINI AND PHOLSILE HLOPHE on 08/04/2021 07:57:00


MBABANE – Once and not always!
Moneni Pirates go by the moniker of ‘once and always’, but this doesn’t
seem to be the case after the club elders last night terminated the contract of
the club’s Managing Director (MD), Nqobizitha Mlilo, abruptly on controversial
circumstances after a dramatic week behind-the-scenes. Barely five months after
signing a five-year contract on December 2020 as the new MD of Moneni Pirates,
it would be fair to say Nqobizitha Mlilo’s stay has been as short as the
club’s slogan – ‘UP THE BUCS’. The elders of the team, as confirmed by
the Chairman of the Elders, Charles Thwala, took a decision to terminate
Mlilo’s contract with immediate effect.
This emanated in a meeting held last night at the George Hotel, to the shock of
Mlilo and his management team. Thwala said the bone of contention was that Mlilo
was not living up to the promises he made when he took over as the director,
which include the welfare of the players and allegiance to the elders. Thwala
said it was on these grounds that the man they were once proud of turned out to
be contrary to what they (elders) thought he was.
Candidates
“I can confirm that we have terminated Ngobizitha Mlilo’s contract with
immediate effect and we requested him to accept our decision as the engine of
the team. When he came, there were other potential candidates in line to take
over the team,” said Thwala. Yesterday, the Times of Eswatini reported that
players had boycotted training and demanded full salary payment dating back to
November and abandoned training for the past two days.
When questioned about the termination of his contract, Mlilo admitted that the
elders had terminated his contract, but swore to take legal action to challenge
the elders’ decision. He further spilled the beans on the management squabbles
within the team, also pointing fingers at some officials who were stern of
making the rules, but had no financial muscle as a back-up.
licensing
“This team models itself around Orlando Pirates and as a stench Pirates
supporter, I have never heard of a structure called the elders. When I took over
the team, I asked; what is the duty of the elders because they are not listed in
the CAF club licensing requirements? I was notified by word of mouth that my
contract has been terminated and I have already instructed attorneys to start
working on the matter,” said Mlilo. He, however, said he was cognizant of the
promises he made to the team to do what is best for the players, but felt that
there were people influencing the players to turn against him. “I came here
with a budget and I wanted 23 players, but I was told that there were 32. I was
also told to pay pending salaries for players I never signed. The main problem
here is that there are people who want me to give them money to spend
willy-nilly and not account for it,” said Mlilo.