The Eswatini Football Association (EFA) has once again proven that when it comes to safeguarding the integrity, pride, and dignity of our national football, their moral compass is not just broken, but it’s missing altogether.
In what can only be described as an outrageous betrayal of national trust, the current national team coach, Zdravko Logarusic, was shockingly spotted lending his expertise to a Saudi Arabian football team, all while still under contract with Eswatini.
This disgraceful act is not just a professional breach but it is a slap in the face to every football-loving citizen of this country.
Let me not mince words. Logarusic is not a free agent. He is not some volunteer or part-time consultant. I know him to be a full-time, committed servant of Eswatini football. His allegiance, his planning, his energy, and his tactical knowledge should be laser-focused on nurturing our players, strengthening our national team, and building a football culture that can command respect on the continental stage.
Yet instead of pouring his attention into his current obligations, we find him moonlighting in the Middle East, allegedly ‘helping out’ another team, one with deeper pockets.
Honestly, one wonders why such things are allowed to happen in our football.
I am told he did not deny helping the team, but only told EFA that he was just asked to help.
My worry is that EFA seem to be okay with that explanation, which makes me wonder if our football is in the right hands.
How can they allow such?
And what has been the EFA’s reaction to this stunning breach of contract and ethics?
Their explanation is worse than silence, in fact they offered him a pass.
To me this is just an insultingly shallow excuse that the Saudi team ‘just asked for his help’.
As if international football is run like a neighbourhood kick-about where anyone can pitch in at will; no this is wrong and I do not care how you look at it, it is wrong.
As if a coach under contract to one national team can casually lend a hand to a team without even informing his employers, let alone requesting permission or declaring a conflict of interest.
This is not just incompetence. It is willful negligence. It is a betrayal of duty and yes, we have been taken for a ride once again.
EFA’s acceptance of this excuse with no disciplinary action, no formal inquiry, and no public accountability is a national embarrassment.
Their response, or rather, their non-response, shows either a complete lack of understanding of professional standards or a brazen disregard for them. And both options are equally damning. How can any football association claim to protect and promote the interests of its national team while allowing its coach to moonlight for a foreign side?
How can fans be expected to invest their time, emotion, and support into a team when its leadership is this unserious, this permissive, this utterly disengaged?
Let’s be honest, when a coach on the payroll of Eswatini football is seen aligning himself, even temporarily with another country’s football setup, it reeks of divided loyalty. And when that other team happens to be one with more prestige, resources, and international pull, it’s not difficult to see what’s really happening.
This could be a clear case of ‘double act’ or should I say ‘double pay cheque.’
Logarusic is using Eswatini as a mere stepping stone as it is clear to all that he is looking for something better and EFA is letting him do it.
Where do they draw the line?
If the EFA does not draw it here, then it effectively declares that national loyalty is negotiable, professionalism is optional, and that leadership will always look the other way so long as the person in question wears a polite smile and creates a flimsy story.
Even more disgraceful than Logarusic’s conduct is the EFA’s total abdication of leadership.
At a time when the footballing public is already seething with frustration worn down by years of underachievement, incoherent planning, and a glaring absence of vision, EFA’s failure to act decisively is infuriating. Fans did not merely raise eyebrows when the news broke.
They erupted in justified outrage.
They demanded answers, transparency, and accountability.
But instead of addressing these concerns head-on, the EFA reverted to its most familiar tactic of taking things lightly, hoping the controversy would vanish if ignored long enough. That playbook may have worked in the past, but not anymore. Eswatini football fans are no longer content with passive spectatorship. They are demanding integrity. They are demanding respect. And they are demanding a governing body that is worthy of the game.
Make no mistake; this incident is about far more than one coach. It speaks to a systemic rot at the heart of our football administration. It highlights the absence of basic structures for oversight, contractual enforcement, and ethical conduct.
That the coach does not have a contract is a result of what is happening. I am told the coach is working with only an appointment letter. Can you imagine? Why should we not call for a total overhaul and put in people who want to work as our football leaders?
Netsembe lokubese niyasidvuba when we start criticising you for not doing your job. Please give us a break and leave football alone. People should get into such positions by merit not this tendency of buying votes.
I have heard claims that some journalists are on the payroll of certain football leaders. I would rather not believe that’s true. What I do know and take pride in is that I am not on anyone’s payroll.
EFA’s job is not just to blame the Premier League of Eswatini for not handling the Wanderers and Denver Sundowns issue well. It is to uphold the sanctity of the national team. It is to ensure that the individuals entrusted with leading that team are committed, focused, and above all else, accountable.
Where is the investigation? Where is the press release clarifying the timeline, the communication chain, and the decision-making process that led to this so-called ‘assistance’ to Saudi Arabia? Was the ministry of sports informed about this? Were contractual clauses reviewed? Were there performance benchmarks breached by this clear conflict of interest? These are questions we will never get answers on because our national team coach does not have a contract but an appointment letter.
Or are we expected to believe that this entire episode, a coach under contract with Eswatini Football Association aiding another country’s football effort, doesn’t even merit a formal comment?
What EFA Communications and Marketing Manager Muzi Radebe wrote in that statement explaining the coach’s conduct is just an insult to the nation. This goes to show that members of the public are taken for granted. Radebe should have at least kept quiet.
If this is the best the EFA can do, then perhaps it is time we, as a nation, do better without them. A governing body that fails to defend the sovereignty and dignity of its national team is not a governing body at all. It is a liability. They are just an obstacle to progress. EFA is just a glorified administration office handing out paychecks and platitudes.
This latest scandal should be a turning point, and not just in public perception, but in the structural reforms that must follow. We need transparency in contracts. We need public access to performance evaluations. We need leaders who treat football as a national mission, not a career opportunity for foreigners and an old boys’ club for locals.
In the eyes of many supporters, Logarusic has already disqualified himself from the role of national coach. But in truth, the EFA’s failure to act disqualifies them as stewards of our beloved sport.
If they cannot protect the interests of our national team, then perhaps it is time we put them under the spotlight, and under the bus, where they now rightfully belong.
Eswatini football deserves better. The people deserve better. And if the EFA refuses to rise to the occasion, then they must be held to account publicly, loudly, and persistently until they either reform or step aside.
EFA is going for the elections and to me some have already disqualified themselves.
