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“MILTON Ncube announced his arrival at Highlanders in style with three well-executed goals as the Bulawayo giants beat Blue Rangers 4-0 in a Castle Lager Premiership match at Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday.” The 24-year-old (now 26) utility player scored fabulous goals to send the more than 5,000 fans into song and dance. Ncube put Bosso ahead in the 10th minute with a long range dipping shot and made it two in the 27th minute when he rounded his marker and chipped the ball with precision past a diving Blue Rangers goalkeeper.

The former Motor Action, Shooting Stars and FC Windermere player completed his hat-trick in the 69th minute with a bicycle kick to put the game beyond the reach of Blue Rangers.

“It feels great to score in my first competitive match for Highlanders and I hope to continue on that note. Actually, this was the first hat-trick of my career. When I went into the field I just wanted to enjoy myself and help the team get a positive result.

“Credit should go to the whole team because we fought as  a unit and you could see that there was co-ordination. During the pre-season, there were reports that we lacked cohesion but I am happy that we got off to a good start.

“We will continue working hard,” Ncube told this publication after his first Premier Soccer League match in Highlanders colours at the beginning of the 2012 season, and now his romance with Bosso fans is coming to an end.

It was his first interview with the media since returning home from Harare and in that afternoon, he had shown that he was definitely going to be a vital cog in Kelvin Kaindu’s team.

More so, it was his first and last hat-trick, but he has scored a lot of goals for Highlanders. In fact, more than any other striker in the team in the past two years.

The media in Zimbabwe was jerked off their seats this week with news already coming from Kickoff in South Africa that Milito, as his fans call him, had already signed for South Africa Premiership side Ajax Cape Town, where he joins fellow Zimbabwean Simba Sithole, formerly with How Mine.

Before then, it was a case of rumours that he will go to South Africa ahead of their new season, and so will teammate Peter “Rio” Moyo who has reportedly signed for Mpumalanga Black Aces, where he also joins fellow Zimbabweans Tendai Ndoro, Method Mwanjali and Energy Murambadoro.

Of course, those handling their deals kept a tight lead on the developments and you can bet those engineering the moves were doing so from across the border, but that is not a problem, what is important is that the boys have been given an opportunity to explore their talents in a more competitive and more rewarding league.

That Highlanders will not get any cent from their moves is not an issue at all (but should be a learning curve) because the players and those handling their affairs were clever enough to understand the business and moved ahead of Highlanders, and you cannot blame them for such ingenuity, football is business. After their contracts expired last season, they reportedly entered into open ended contracts which allow them to move any time and while Highlanders fans might feel the club deserves a slice from the windfalls down South, the truth of the matter is that business does now work like that, business is not charity!

Nonetheless, the point that should be celebrated by Zimbabweans is that pure talent has been recognised from the City of Kings and Queens.

Those who have followed the journey taken by Milton from juniors, under the tutelage of Amin Soma Phiri will tell you that he was always ahead of the pack.

His talent was never in doubt – technique, skill, movement and the knack to get goals has been his blessing, but above all, the ability to be versatile, to play at the back, midfield and upfront, something that makes him a unique player with that left foot.

He has the attributes that coaches want in a player, positional play, awareness, adaptability, creativity, mental ability, confidence, endurance, you will name it, and in my view, he was a good buy for Ajax.

There are many players who have crossed the Limpopo, but some of them have gone there by shear luck, sorry to say. You spend some time without seeing such pure natural talent from players, something the world saw in Joel Ngodzo when he burst into the Highlanders first team, and in fact, someone should suggest a commission of enquiry at FC Platinum as to why he did not develop in the three years he was in Zvishavane. But now that he is back home, hopefully he will go back to his old Josta.

And by the way, Ajax are not a small team like what some people were claiming in the social media. You cannot talk about South African football and leave out Ajax, but you can talk about Mzansi diski and leave out Pretoria University and even forget about Platinum Stars! But you cannot forget about Ajax and Bloemfontein Celtics for example, apart from the traditional power houses of South African football – Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns and Moroka Swallows.

Milton reportedly signed a two-year contract, which was confirmed on the Ajax website by executive director Ari Efstathiou.
“I can confirm that Ajax Cape Town have signed the Zimbabwean, Milton Ncube. We signed the player during the 2014 Chan Tournament; he signed a two-year contract with a two-year option,” Efstathiou said.

The explanation from the club indicates that when he came back to play for Highlanders this season, he already had agreed terms with the South Africa club, and everything was done and sealed during the Chan tournament in South Africa where the locally based Warriors stars played their hearts out to finish third in the tournament.

The deal could have come as a surprise to many because Warriors coach Ian Gorowa uses Milton as a left back, while he is more of a midfielder-cum striker at Highlanders, but the player is also comfortable at the back and in fact, when Motor Action won the Premiership title, they were using him as a left back.

However, his story would not be complete without the mention of unheralded young coach Partson Ndabambi, who took over the gem that was mined and polished by Soma Phiri at FC Windermere in Luveve and for a while at Zimbabwe Saints when still in Division One.
Ndabambi was the first coach to give Milton a break into the local Premiership when he took over the reins at Shooting Stars in 2008.

Together with Atlast Musasa and Shepherd Maregere, Milton travelled to Harare to join Shooting Stars where they were permanently sold by FC Windermere.

Maregere was to come back home later and try something else outside football, while Musasa is playing in Namibia after a stint with Highlanders. From Shooting Stars, which later on merged with Caps Holdings, Milton moved to Motor Action, and the rest is history.

On the local front, there are some coaches who have the ability to give young players the opportunity to shine like what Ndabambi did, and remember he is the same guy who nurtured foreign-based Musa Mguni when he was coaching Amavevani juniors, but unfortunately, we, the media, forget about them, and even when football stalwarts like Max Tshuma, the Zimbabwe Saints great who passed on recently leave us, we forget in a hurry because we have not learnt to celebrate and honour our own heroes.

When we forget, what about the general public? Nonetheless, this week we say good luck to Milito and Rio.
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