Maganga was part of the Nomads’ renaissance taskforce that has thrown in the towel following resistance
* “We initiated the taskforce when we noticed that Wanderers is at the verge of disbanding”
* “Chairperson Sikwese has the team’s welfare at heart — without him Wanderers wouldn’t have been where they are”
By Duncan Mlanjira
Ernest Maganga, one of the members of the taskforce that was initiated to regenerate falling financial status of Mighty Wanderers FC, says he has the passion to help the team to remain a giant and if recalled to continue where they left off, he shall surely accept.
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But that is only if the team’s executive committee puts its house in order from resisting some of the strides the taskforce made that forced it to tactfully withdraw from the process.
“If nothing is done in good time, mark my words, Nomads will disband in the shortest period to come,” he said in an interview. “It is my prayer that this doesn’t happen.
“I’m one of the pioneers of this initiative. We started meeting some months ago when we noticed that Wanderers is at the verge of disbanding but we had no choice but throw in the towel.
“It is unfortunate that in this day and age, Wanderers still has some unknowledgeable administrators who can’t manage anything — people that are not supposed to be any near administration of a team like Nomads.
Maganga during Wanderers good old days
“They couldn’t understand anything that we out in the MOU but were on top of frustrating our efforts. It is laughable to hear people asking ‘what is there for them in the new setup’ — really?”
He confirmed that his name was indeed proposed that it should be included in the taskforce if the executive gives in to the resistance for change, saying it would be “for the sake of the team that I love”.
“Initially, I had refused but my colleagues persuaded me probably in recognition of my contribution towards this initiative. So yes, I would accept but these other disgruntled official must put in their place first.
He applauded chairperson, Simon Sikwese as having the team’s welfare at heart, who was part of the renaissance taskforce from the word go.
Sikwese has the team’s welfare at heart
“Without him we wouldn’t have been where we are. It is unfortunate that he came at a point when BeForward was withdrawing its sponsorship. His vision for the team is superb and I wished he was surrounded by people with same acumen.”
“Honestly, the supporters committee, [represented by its chairperson Mervin Nkunika and two of his committee members], was in total agreement with whatever we were doing.
“However, a few characters in the executive committee are the ones that were resistant. I saw it coming and during one of our meetings I emphasized the point that time has come where politicking must stop. The team needs all of us to take it off the life-supporting machine.
“We have left the process in the hands of Simon Sikwese and his team to see how they’re going to resolve it. But if it were for me, the culprits should have been fired.”
Mpinganjira bailed out Wanderers last month
He highlighted, as one of the strides the taskforce made, the K20.2 million financial assistance the team received from business mogul Thomson Mpinganjira, that was used to pay the team’s players’ salaries for four months starting from December 2020 to March 2021.
“Many more individuals and companies were on the verge of coming in to assist which I doubt will happen considering the developments,” he said citing other personal contributions from former players like Panganeni Ndovi, who played for Bullets and Silver Strikers, but contributed ideas and money towards development of Nomads.
Other former players who assisted are Boniface Maganga, Phillip Madinga and others who technically manages the team in various ways.
“As I said earlier, a few individuals came to a point of asking for positions in the directorship of the proposed registered company but if you look at their CVs you’ll laugh as to what positive thing they can contribute towards development of a team.
Former chairperson Humphrey Mvula is part of
the taskforce
“Let me repeat one thing, these guys should never have been allowed to be any near management of a team because they are incapable of managing anything,” said Maganga, whose last official position at Wanderers was team manager looking after players such as internationals Meke Mwase, Sherry Msuku, brothers Bob & Albert Mpinganjira, Gift Zakazaka, late Leonard Malunga amongst others.
He then served in Super League of Malawi (SULOM) as executive member when it was led by Henry Chibowa led committee.
The taskforce — a group of Mighty Wanderers enthusiasts that included influential former players — was initiated by Sikwese to, among others, kick-start the registration process of the team as a limited liability company.
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It was also given the task to assist the team identify short-term financial resources and come up with a commercialization blue-print for an initial two-year period.
In an earlier interview, Sikwese and Humphrey Mvula — himself a former Wanderers executive member who served in different positions up to chairperson — confirmed that the withdrawal was just a tactical move for the executive committee to put its house in order.
“We accepted to handle the commercialization drive because we have the passion to regenerate the team’s fortunes but we realised that our reputation was at stake through the resistance we faced,” Mvula said.
“We made some good strides after approaching some potential partners but in order not to jeopardize everything, we decided to handover what we gained back to the executive for them to continue through, probably, another committee to handle it.”
Sikwese had said Wanderers cannot continue operating the way they used to 30 years ago and think that they will prosper, saying “Wanderers has stood the taste of time and it is high time it moved on”.
