Times Of Swaziland: CAPITAL CITY GIANTS CRACKING THE WHIP AFTER: ‘PUPU’ SKIPS CAMP, FACES E3K FINE

CAPITAL CITY GIANTS CRACKING THE WHIP AFTER: ‘PUPU’ SKIPS CAMP, FACES E3K
FINE
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Mengameli Mabuza on 24/11/2022 06:49:00


MBABANE – Stylish Mbabane Swallows midfielder Banele ‘Pupu’ Sikhondze is
in hot soup.
Reports suggested that he could be fined up to E3 000 if found guilty by an
internal disciplinary committee (DC). The ex-South Africa’s Polokwane City
player is said to have irked  his employers after allegedly failing to join his
teammates in camp last Saturday ahead of their Y’ello Sunday MTN Premier
League clash against Moneni Pirates. He was a notable absentee in the game, as
he did not make the match day squad.
“He reported an injury when he arrived at the camp base and told the coaches
he was not staying because he couldn’t play the Moneni Pirates game.
Unfortunately, this did not go down well with the technical bench of Musa
Manyatsi and Siyabonga Bhembe, but he still left. He was part of the starting
eleven, so you can imagine. The coaches had already been told the player was
active in ‘kasi’ (stokvel) matches at Msunduza,” a source close to the
club claimed.
It was also established that the team doctors also responded to the negative
when questioned if they knew anything about the injury claimed by Sikhondze. He
missed the game the next day which his team narrowly won 1-0 against Pirates at
Mavuso Sports Centre in Manzini. For his alleged participation, in the
unofficial games, usually referred to as ‘stokvel’ and missing the team’s
camp after defying his coaches, he faces disciplinary action and if found
guilty, he risks having at least E3 000 of his salary slashed and a possible
two-match suspension as punishment.
The Beautiful Birds, as Swallows are also fondly known, had to replace Sikhondze
immediately in the line-up. The team’s General Manager Sandile ‘Beyond
2000’ Zwane did not divulge much on the matter, but did not deny it either. He
said they were handing the matter as a team. ‘’We have heard that our
player, Banele was playing in the midweek training games at Msunduza, but we
have no truth in that story as we have no proof. The matter will be handled by
the technical team and the doctors who will tell us about the ‘Pupu’ injury,
and as a club we will then take it from there,” Zwane said.
He explained that once all was in the clear about the issue, their supporters
would get the feedback. The player also did not deny the latest but wanted to
know our source. He would not comment as the source or sources were not revealed
as per the journalism ethics. The two coaches were called as well but they would
not comment much except to say it was a matter for the management to deal with.
Meanwhile, the Mbabane giants are currently placed on position three with 12
points, two points behind current log leaders Young Buffaloes on 14 points and
will be looking to topple the forces and Mbabane Highlanders for the lucrative
first round E100 000 MTN Premier League  ‘carrot’.