{"id":1171,"date":"2025-08-10T14:49:36","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T12:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swazidailynews.com\/?p=1171"},"modified":"2025-08-10T14:49:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T12:49:36","slug":"rubber-takes-patrons-to-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Rubber\u2019 takes Patrons to court"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sibusiso Masilela<\/p>\n

The dispute over ownership of Mbabane Highlanders has now gone to court. Estranged club president Bheki ‘Rubber’ Simelane has taken the club to court following the termination of his 18-month contract about a month ago.<\/p>\n

Simelane has instructed SM Jele Attorneys to help him regain control of the club.<\/p>\n

This comes after the Patrons appointed South African businesswoman Shawn Mkhize as the club president, which led to the change of name for the team to Mbabane Highlanders AM FC.<\/p>\n

Simelane claims he is still in charge and wants to be reinstated as president and board governor in the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE).<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Massive clear-out at Highlanders AM<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

He is also challenging Mkhize’s appointment as the club president in his prayers.<\/p>\n

He further wants the suspension of the club’s Operations on an interim basis pending the finalisation of the matter. The matter is set to be argued on Monday, 11 August 2025.<\/p>\n

Mkhize, Mbabane Highlanders, Patrons and the PLE were yet to file responding affidavits on the matter when compiling this report.
\nOther respondents include Shauwn Mkhize and the Premier League of Eswatini.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \u2018Bucs\u2019 CAF millions\u2019 dream remains\u00a0alive<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Highlanders are currently in Pietermaritzburg, where they are holding their preseason camp. Mkhize has recently roped in former Green Mamba head coach Ernest Mavuso as the head coach.<\/p>\n

Mavuso is assisted by ex-Amazulu FC Development Coach Ronnie Moroka. Other members of the technical bench include two legends, Sifiso \u2018Barnes\u2019 Mkhulisi and Phumuza Ntshangase.<\/p>\n

Mkhize has further appointed a two-member board comprising his son, Andile Mpisane, and local businessman Fortune Nxumalo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This comes after the Patrons appointed South African businesswoman Shawn Mkhize as the club president, which led to the change of name for the team to Mbabane Highlanders AM FC.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,25,37,43,26],"tags":[51,53,68,54],"class_list":["post-1171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-art-design","category-national","category-soccer","category-sports","category-swaziland","tag-mbabane-highlanders","tag-soccer","tag-sport","tag-sports","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Rubber\u2019 takes Patrons to court - Eswatini Daily News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Rubber\u2019 takes Patrons to court - Eswatini Daily News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This comes after the Patrons appointed South African businesswoman Shawn Mkhize as the club president, which led to the change of name for the team to Mbabane Highlanders AM FC.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eswatini Daily News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-10T12:49:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Bheki-Rubber-Simelane.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1974\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eswatini Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eswatini Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/1171\\\/national\\\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/1171\\\/national\\\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Eswatini Daily News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2e7ad908f0e6606cc49214ec19776de\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018Rubber\u2019 takes Patrons to court\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-10T12:49:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/1171\\\/national\\\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":271,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/1171\\\/national\\\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Bheki-Rubber-Simelane.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Mbabane Highlanders\",\"Soccer\",\"Sport\",\"Sports\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Art & Design\",\"National\",\"Soccer\",\"Sports\",\"Swaziland\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/1171\\\/national\\\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/1171\\\/national\\\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/1171\\\/national\\\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018Rubber\u2019 takes Patrons to court - Eswatini Daily News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/1171\\\/national\\\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/1171\\\/national\\\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Bheki-Rubber-Simelane.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-10T12:49:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2e7ad908f0e6606cc49214ec19776de\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/1171\\\/national\\\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/1171\\\/national\\\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/1171\\\/national\\\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Bheki-Rubber-Simelane.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Bheki-Rubber-Simelane.jpg\",\"width\":1512,\"height\":1974,\"caption\":\"Bheki 'Rubber' Simelane adressing the gathering.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/1171\\\/national\\\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018Rubber\u2019 takes Patrons to court\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/\",\"name\":\"Eswatini Daily News\",\"description\":\"EDN\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2e7ad908f0e6606cc49214ec19776de\",\"name\":\"Eswatini Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/cd20c640fc2b77fae5560d5aa1f54a994fbb6bda894b89c7624c9793dc7790d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/cd20c640fc2b77fae5560d5aa1f54a994fbb6bda894b89c7624c9793dc7790d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/cd20c640fc2b77fae5560d5aa1f54a994fbb6bda894b89c7624c9793dc7790d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Eswatini Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\\\/edn\\\/author\\\/adekunleo\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018Rubber\u2019 takes Patrons to court - Eswatini Daily News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018Rubber\u2019 takes Patrons to court - Eswatini Daily News","og_description":"This comes after the Patrons appointed South African businesswoman Shawn Mkhize as the club president, which led to the change of name for the team to Mbabane Highlanders AM FC.","og_url":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/","og_site_name":"Eswatini Daily News","article_published_time":"2025-08-10T12:49:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1512,"height":1974,"url":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Bheki-Rubber-Simelane.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Eswatini Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Eswatini Daily News","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/"},"author":{"name":"Eswatini Daily News","@id":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/#\/schema\/person\/a2e7ad908f0e6606cc49214ec19776de"},"headline":"\u2018Rubber\u2019 takes Patrons to court","datePublished":"2025-08-10T12:49:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/"},"wordCount":271,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Bheki-Rubber-Simelane.jpg","keywords":["Mbabane Highlanders","Soccer","Sport","Sports"],"articleSection":["Art & Design","National","Soccer","Sports","Swaziland"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/","url":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/","name":"\u2018Rubber\u2019 takes Patrons to court - Eswatini Daily News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Bheki-Rubber-Simelane.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-10T12:49:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/#\/schema\/person\/a2e7ad908f0e6606cc49214ec19776de"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Bheki-Rubber-Simelane.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Bheki-Rubber-Simelane.jpg","width":1512,"height":1974,"caption":"Bheki 'Rubber' Simelane adressing the gathering."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1171\/national\/rubber-takes-patrons-to-court\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018Rubber\u2019 takes Patrons to court"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/","name":"Eswatini Daily News","description":"EDN","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/#\/schema\/person\/a2e7ad908f0e6606cc49214ec19776de","name":"Eswatini Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd20c640fc2b77fae5560d5aa1f54a994fbb6bda894b89c7624c9793dc7790d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd20c640fc2b77fae5560d5aa1f54a994fbb6bda894b89c7624c9793dc7790d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd20c640fc2b77fae5560d5aa1f54a994fbb6bda894b89c7624c9793dc7790d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Eswatini Daily News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn"],"url":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/author\/adekunleo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}