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Mawiwi opens up on eSwatini ordeal

Sport
He spent less than a month in the country, having joined Manzini Sundowns on December 3 and their marriage ended on New Year’s Eve.

BY TERRY MADYAUTA FORMER Harare City coach Bigboy Mawiwi has broken his silence on the ordeal that he suffered at the hands of eSwatini topflight league side Manzini Sundowns.

He spent less than a month in the country, having joined Manzini Sundowns on December 3 and their marriage ended on New Year’s Eve.

During that short stay, Mawiwi said he met his worst ordeal and was even fearing for his life under what he described as a “mafia”  style of operating.

“I was actually fearing for my life, because those guys (were) operating like a mafia. From the first day that I arrived, that was on December 3, they were never honest regarding what we had discussed via the phone,” he said.

“Our first meeting didn’t end well because they presented a contract with lower figures than what we agreed on. I refused to sign it since in our verbal agreements, we had a different amount. They made so many written and verbal commitments which they never fulfilled until I left.

“Their agent Dingane Maduna went on to swindle me of some money when I gave him money with the hope that he would send it home to my family since the only money transfer facility was in Mbabane.

“That was R4 500, but he instead sent R2 920 and converted the other money to his personal use.”

Added Mawiwi: “Of course, they later on gave me decent accommodation after several attempts to send me to rural kind of locations. Can you imagine that they even refused to refund my air ticket fee when I arrived.

“According to them, that money was part of my settlement fee, which they didn’t even give me in cash, but it was through a few groceries that didn’t even match the amount.”

When Mawiwi got the job, the Manzini Sundowns leadership organised a one-month permit for him, although he claims not to have been notified.

“What surprised me was that they had got me a one-month permit although I was expected to stay longer. However, they wanted to use that to their advantage so that they could eject me out of the country without paying me.

“To make matters worse, they rather just called me late on December 30, so that I would be driven to the airport without being given any of my fees, including air ticket refunds and signing-on fee,” the former Hwange mentor narrated.

“All this was being done because they knew that my permit was almost reaching its end. So the moment I realised that plan, I waited for the car to stop at a traffic light and bolted out. I then walked for almost 7km to the laboratory for a COVID-19 test and then went back to my place, where I locked myself in my room until they gave me my dues. Until now, I am being threatened.

“Had it not been for Zimbabwe Soccer Coaches Association (Zisca) chairman Bhekimpilo Nyoni and Wilson Mutekede, perhaps I would have gotten nothing.”

Mawiwi explained how club chief executive Elvis Dube would interfere with his line of work.

“I ended up not giving them the training plan because the CEO himself would tell players things contrary to what I was working on. For example, I would set afternoon training sessions at 3pm, but he would tell the players that the session is at 2pm.

“To my surprise, not all players were attending these sessions, but I was expected to pardon them and even go on to give them first team preference,” he said.

“It was so difficult to deal with them. I hardly got time for team talk because they would be all over the team in the dressing room. Then one wonders how one is expected to bring positive results.

“They even went as far as demanding me to leave the kits that I was using and all the personal stuff that I had. Because of the frosty relationship, it was better to pay them off because I was fearing rituals.”

Meanwhile, the eSwatini Coaches Association has expressed disappointment over the manner the team handled Mawiwi’s issue.

“We were puzzled when one team on social media platform claimed a coach left on his own accord. It is not true that the coach left because he had issues to attend to back home,” the coaches’ association said.

“The coach was unfairly dismissed because the team was not honouring the verbal agreement it had with him as it did not give him a written contract. Instead, the coach received a letter of appointment in order to facilitate his registration.

“We are in possession of a letter from the coach citing ill-treatment from the club. The coach was pushed out of the team before settlement of his dues.”

Follow Terry on Twitter@madyautatpm

 

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