By By Chris Dlamini and Sibusiso Masilela
Will it be the Mozambican investor or another at Mbabane Swallows?
As months pass by, finances at Mbabane Swallows continue to be the capital city giant club’s headache. This is amid ‘Umkhonto KaShaka’, as Swallows are affectionately known, unveiling Mozambique’s Donald Birage Enterprises early this year as their new investor.
The Mozambican investor had pledged E3 million per season, including E100 000 commitment fee upfront, which has not been paid to date.
“The investor keeps on shifting the goalposts. I can assure you now that we have our doubts and if anything, an option B is needed just in case.
As you know, we are still struggling to settle salaries and they even date back to last season, as alluded by the club’s Governor Welile Mabuza recently,” said a source close to Swallows.
The source said they had also expected to travel to Angola for a preseason tournament but all that was now off due lack of finances.
“We can’t travel when we can’t pay our players’ salaries. As is, a good Samaritan helped us pay half salaries for August ahead of our Trade Fair Cup game with Sea Birds. Even then, not every player received that half, others got nothing but I understand the players are still patient and giving the management the time and trust to settle the salaries,” said the source.
Swallows was invited to the Friendship Cup, which was to feature eight teams starting on September 8-14 in Angola’s Sao Filipo and Buraco Stadiums.
However, the trip did not take off. Some reports suggested that the Premiership League of Eswatini (PLE) had refused Swallows the opportunity to attend a preseason tournament in Angola. Swallows was expected in Angola on September 7, which was on Sunday.
“Our management is constantly in contact with the Mozambican investor. It’s also true that Angola is off. Otherwise, as our supporters saw in the 8Bet Trade Fair Cup, we are working on having a strong team and we’ve signed Mido from Mozambique,” said the red and white Umkhonto KaShaka’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Knowledge ‘Bhambo’ Ngwenya on Tuesday when asked about the latest developments.
Questioned about the salaries and claims, they were considering an alternative option given their hesitant status with Donald Birage Enterprises, Ngwenya insisted talks were ongoing with the Mozambique investor but did not deny that they could find themselves opting to look elsewhere.
However, he said there was nothing to that effect at the moment.
