Former Malawi coach Meck Mwase has rejoined Eswatini Premier League 13-time winners Mbabane Highlanders, nine years after he led them to a league runner-up, their best finish this decade.
In a statement that Pan-Africa Football has seen, Highlanders said Mwase has replaced Thembela Dlamini as head coach. The Mbabane-based side lies third in the league standings, two points behind leaders Ezulwini United.
“Coach Meck Mwase returns to take charge of the team as Head Coach and will be assisted by Vusisizwe Mahlalela. Chico Mayisa, a former player of this great club, also makes a return to Mbabane Highlanders to serve as goalkeeper coach,” the statement reads.
“We wish them well in their new assignment and counting on the support of the Mbabane Highlanders’ faithful to rally behind them as we continue to drive the team back to its rightful place at the top of the food chain.”
Highlanders have given the 53-year-old Malawian the mandate of restoring “the club’s legacy and deliver the glory that supporters have been longing for. His first challenge will be the much-anticipated clash against rivals Moneni Pirates in the MTN Premier League.”
This is the first job for the former Flames skipper, who dumped Mighty Mukuru Wanderers FC back home in Malawi last November after some indifferent results in the nation's top flight TNM Super League.
In November, the former Jomo Cosmos defender hit headlines when the country’s Industrial Relations Court (IRC) ordered the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) to pay him $254,000 in compensation for unfair dismissal as the Flames coach a few years ago.
The court ordered that Mwase be paid wages on a similar scale as his successor Mario Marinica and predecessor Ronny Van Geneugden. The payment is for the entire contract duration of the coach who guided the Flames to qualification to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals, only to be demoted to a deputy for then interim manager Marinica at the finals in Cameroon.
After that AFCON appearance, FAM fired Mwase in April 2022 with a year remaining on his contract, citing poor performance in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The former Jomo Cosmos defender was redeployed to the post of under-23 coach, a position he declined. The association ended up making technical director Marinica the Flames coach.
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