‘WESLIANS’ DEMAND E30 000 MANYISA SIGNING-ON FEE

MBABANE – It’s a bitter pill to swallow. Manzini Wanderers are crying foul after losing prized asset Leon Manyisa to traditional rivals Mbabane Swallows.
The one-year deal, reported to be worth E70 000, saw the talented youngster earning a cool E30 000 signing-on fee after finally putting pen to paper with the capital city giants to end days of speculation about his future.

This publication broke the story that Manyisa’s move to the ‘Beautiful Birds’, as Swallows are fondly known by their hordes of followers, was practically a done deal after he agreed personal terms with them a couple of days ago.

It would now appear that the Hub giants have been left licking their wounds in their pursuit of the player as Manyisa has decided that his heart is now red and white. This deal was officially confirmed by Swallows in a statement. For Swallows, this is a case of returning the favour.
However, Wanderers now feel hard done in the deal as they claimed to have an arranged meeting with Vovovo FC’s boss Sipho ‘Tsetla’ Bhembe on July 15 to finalise everything.

Actually, the team’s management committee (MC) Chairman Bongani ‘Bhanyaza’ Mdluli confided that they paid Manyisa E30 000 signing-on fee as demanded last week. He said it was in the same meeting where he was accompanied by manager Berger ‘Hotline’ Nxumalo and treasurer Girlie Johnson, that an agreement was reached with Bhembe to finalise everything on July 15 after handing out the E30 000 signing-on fee in cash to the player.

Confirm

Mdluli was, however, quick to confirm that they demanded their E30 000 back from Bhembe, who duly obliged with a reverse payment on Monday, as confirmed by the parties involved in separate interviews yesterday.

“To be honest, I am very disappointed at the way the Manyisa deal turned out. We tried everything in our power to keep the player but at the end, it was all up to him. We even paid him E30 000 signing on fee as demanded and agreed with Tsetla that we would finalise everything on July 15. We have not even reached that day but the player has already been declared a Swallows.

“For us, there is an element of mistrust because it is going against what we agreed on with Vovovo,” the popular Mbabane based lawyer said.
Asked what steps they will be taking after the latest developments, Mdluli said for now, they will watch with keen interest.

“I can just confirm that we were paid back our E30 000 which was the signing-on fee we paid for the player last week. Our agreement with Vovovo is that the player will be with us until the end of the season. The season is not over yet,” he said.

Bhembe, when called yesterday, was adamant that he did nothing wrong in sanctioning the player’s preferred move to Swallows.
The Vovovo FC boss further confirmed that he paid back the E30 000 as demanded by Wanderers after the player chose to wear the famed red and white jersey.

“My hands were tied on this issue because at the end, it was all about what the player wanted and he made his preferred choice. People can blame me for all they want but the boy followed his heart and I respected that,” Bhembe said.

Agreement

Asked on Mdluli’s comments that the player was still legally bound to them as their agreement with him will only elapse at the end of the current season, Bhembe remained unshaken.

“Look, what do people expect me to do when the player comes complaining about lack of basic necessities because he is not getting anything at Wanderers. The welfare of the boy is important to me and if they (Wanderers) cannot meet their obligations, they have only themselves to blame,” Bhembe said.
Manyisa was yesterday officially unveiled by the red and white glamour side.

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