CORRUPTION CRIPPLING LOCAL FOOTBALL

Editor,

For the first time after a long period, I smiled upon noticing that Swazis were united in support of their national soccer team, Sihlangu. Everybody loves a winner and our boys were winning like nobody’s business and breaking COSAFA Castle Cup records in the process.

Never mind the fact that they were winning against Islanders with no real history in the game or a weakened Chipolopolo side missing most of their star players, the important thing is that they were winning and we enjoyed every moment. For a moment, the likes of Felix Badenhorst, Siyabonga  Msholozi  Mdluli and co. got us believing.

We are a glory-starved nation but this time around the nation’s pride gave us every reason to believe that 2016 might just be the year for us to finally lay our hands on the COSAFA Castle Cup trophy that has always eluded us. But it is now history that Sihlangu’s dream of winning the sub-regional soccer tournament has remained just that, a dream. On Wednesday, June 22, 2016, the wheels finally came off what first looked like a well-oiled Sihlangu machine. Ephraim  Shakes  Mashaba’s predominantly under 23 team asked a lot of questions on the day.

Unfortunately, Harris  Madze  Bulunga’s charges could not provide answers. The 5-1 drubbing our senior national team suffered at the hands of a Bafana Bafana team made of boys (a majority of them under the age of 23 years) was too much for me. As a patriotic Swazi I had high hopes about our national side but at the end of the day in question, I had to cry myself to sleep.

The sudden turn of events has compelled me to believe that the difference between Sihlangu and men suffering from early ejaculation is the same. Both have the tendency of raising a person’s hopes sky high and when that person is excited and waiting for real action, it’s game over, just like that. Admittedly, reaching the semi-finals of the COSAFA Castle Cup for the first time in 13 years was an achievement. But I believe we could have reached the finals for the first time in history or even brought the trophy home had our house been in order.

There are a lot of ills going on in our football and these tend to set us donkey years back. If the corruption and strong beliefs in quick fix solutions like the use of muti persist, Sihlangu will continue to suffer. We are proving to be a country that takes one step forward then twenty steps back.
Rampant corruption, maladministration, and lack of accountability continue to hinder the progress of the beautiful game. While our neighbours South Africa have managed to turn football into a million Rand industry, the Kingdom of Eswatini remains at the periphery of this lucrative system. Our problem stems from the fact that corruption is an endemic part of the administration of the sport. It is no secret that the league is being run unprofessionally. Most of the administrators we have do not have the love of the sport at heart.

They are only involved in it just to fulfil personal vendettas. Even our club bosses are not helping the situation. They are running football clubs like spaza shop businesses. In recent times we have witnessed games being called off at the eleventh hour just because of some teams failing to produce players’ cards, or due to some teams failing to pitch for a league deciding clash. Some teams have been accused of deliberately losing games in a bid to ensure their rivals end seasons trophy-less.

This is absolute madness. Such things should not be happening; they have no place in modern football. Year in, year out local football is continually marred by controversy and complex problems involving poor infrastructure, underpaid players and of course presidents serving for decades. If we are to make some steady progress as a footballing nation, we must get rid of corruption as it cripples the little that is left of our football. We ought to get rid of the Big Man-Small Boy syndrome whereby the big man gives orders; the small boy obeys and does not dare speak his mind. Players are giving it their best, literally sweating blood in a bid to make soccer a beautiful product altogether, but the people tasked with improving the sport focus on personal gain. We know football will forever be the most popular sport in the country but it will never develop as a viable commercial entity as long as the current organisational malfeasance persists.

Siboniso Patrick Zwane

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