OUR HANDS ARE TIED ON FORCES SAGA – ‘MADZE’

MBABANE – Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Harries ‘Madze’ Bulunga says the ministry’s hands are tied on the contentious issue of the security forces teams playing in the Premier League.

In recent months, teams that have organised themselves under the ‘Simunye’ banner publicly challenged the forces team, claiming they had an unfair advantage over the rest of the sides. The ‘Simunye’ teams were identified as Manzini Wanderers, Mbabane Highlanders, Moneni Pirates and Mbabane Swallows. Forces teams in the Premier League are Royal Leopard, Green Mamba and Young Buffaloes. Minister Bulunga, during the debate of the ministry’s second quarter performance report by the portfolio committee in Parliament two days ago, told legislators that government, especially his ministry, had difficulty in intervening on the issue at this stage. “Football has its own architecture. If there is a concern about unfair advantage, this should be addressed by the clubs at their level first. They can make a resolution and take it to the Eswatini Football Association.

Interfere

“Government can’t interfere on issues of football governance and this is frowned upon by the world soccer governing body,” he said. The minister stressed that his ministry’s hands were tied at the moment and could only intervene if the matter escalated further after it had been exhausted in all the football structures. He further clarified that as a ministry they did not support any individual club with resources as speculated, saying funding was strictly for sports associations that are affiliated to the Eswatini Sport and Recreation Council.

This publication, on the other hand, yesterday exclusively reported that the ministry was exploring an option of securing a partner to construct a new stadium on behalf of government. A recommendation to the central government to consider engaging a partner to construct the stadium was made. Upon completion, government will then pay back the partner in instalments over a period of time. This is often referred to as a public-private partnership (PPP) and it involves collaboration between a government agency and a private sector company that can be used to finance, build and operate projects, such as public transportation networks, parks and convention centres. Financing a project through a ppp can allow a project to be completed sooner or make it a possibility in the first place.

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