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Lovemore Dube Sports Editor
EVERYTIME time a sporting icon passes on there are murmurings that grow louder that the country is not doing much to recognise those who have made it a great sporting country. This week a brother, Vulindlela Ndlovu told me he could not believe why the local media turned a blind eye and a deaf ear on the passing on of former Highlanders treasurer Micah Gumbo. Not a single national daily reported his death.
Gumbo was Bosso treasurer in the 1980s, one of the club’s most colourful moments in its history when they knocked the Cup Kings tag off Caps United.

It was during this time that Bosso separated themselves from the rest of the local football clubs when they started investing in real estate. The Luveve camping house known to older generation of the club’s supporters as Hotel California, was bought from Gumbo. The move to buy the property was a giant step towards taking the club from a basket case to one that could go to the bank and get a loan and use the property as collateral.

Sadly Gumbo when his time was up after the Germany tour of 1987, decided to take a back seat from public life.
There were some within the Highlanders family who thought the former bank manager’s successful dairy project was probably  funded from the club’s money yet it was from his savings and partnerships with friends that he made abroad. Gumbo had, since 1988, been a shadow of the man who was one of the executive members running the affairs of Amahlolanyama who swept almost all silverware on offer in 1986 and 1988.

No friends, relatives or family members could be contacted.
Gumbo was buried at his rural home in Matobo last weekend on Sunday and may his soul rest in peace knowing that his team Bosso is chasing a league and cup double which if achieved would be a perfect send off for him.

Challenged by Ndlovu and many of the paper’s readers who have been calling for the revival of the Blast from the Past column, this week we resume digging our past stars. It is our intention to celebrate them while they still live.

Graveside eulogies serve no purpose so the media should chronicle the achievements of these heroes while they are still alive.
Yesterday Saturday Leisure caught up with Nqobizitha Maenzanise, undoubtedly one of the best midfielders to emerge from Bulawayo. A gem in his days, Maenzanise however, did not reach expected heights of the promise he showed while he was a teenager at Highlanders and Merlin Husky or as a midfielder for Mzilikazi Primary School and St Columbas High School.

He was among the stand out players in a class of Highlanders juniors who included Ronnie Jowa, Nkululeko Dlodlo, the late Adam Ndlovu, Ernest Ncube, the late Makheyi Nyathi, the late Thulani Nxumalo, Thulani Gumede, the late Henry Nyandoro, Abraham Mbambo, the late Nhlanhla Sithole, Dampion Ngwenya, Sydney Zimunya, Mbonisi Mthombeni, Sijabuliso Ndiweni and Vusa Nkomazana who played in the Aberdeeen Festival in 1987.

He blames fate and not being understood at times as the reason why he did not go far.
Maenzanise had skill and a great football brain and it was no wonder that he earned his first cap at the age of 28 despite showing better potential as a junior which saw him battle for positions in probably the best Bosso midfield after independence.

For a young player who battled for a starting place in the 1985 to 1989 with a Highlanders team that had the late Titus Majola, Willard Khumalo, Tito Paketh, the late David Phiri, Thoko Sithole, the late Tutani Moyo and the late Ronnie Jowa, his talents should have taken him places.

Born on 22 January in 1969 in the soccer crazy Mzilikazi suburb, Maenzanise found himself hopping with other boys from one dusty pitch to the other exploring a path that would see him represent his country at senior level 25 times.

“Soccer was the only other past time. It was inconceivable not to play football. We had our own township heroes to emulate who played for big clubs and for me Philemon Dangarembwa was an influence,” said Maenzanise, former Olympics and Zimbabwe Saints respected rightback.
Coached first by Sakupwanya, a teacher at Mzilikazi Primary School, Maenzanise said some things were forced on him.

“With a belt in his hand, you would learn the right thing whether you liked or not. He was a good coach though and I had some guys like Sijabuliso Marembe Ndlovu and Nhlanhla Sithole in the school team. We played Under-10 football for a team called YCC and after matches we were given meatballs and other treats.

We later joined Zimbabwe Saints because the club gave us football boots and tracksuits,” said Maenzanise.
He said Mzilikazi Primary School used to dominate soccer tournaments.

Maenzanise moved to St Columbas where he remembers as a little boy playing with Nesbert Tamburike, former Eagles and Highlanders dribbling wizard Tanny Banda, Dave Magagula and the late Lazarus “Mebra” Mushandadope.

He soon got bored at Zimbabwe Saints and moved to Highlanders. He played with Nhlanhla Sithole, Gary Mkandawire, the late Henry Nyandoro and Gift Soft Banda.

“There was just something about Ali Dube the Highlanders coach. His methods were great, every junior wanted to play under him and his juniors were winning in the city and nationally and we swept basically everything on offer before another move to Merlin Husky,” said Maenzanise.

He speaks highly of one of the best football brains in the country – Silas Ndlovu, one of Bosso’s heroes.
“He was a great coach and used to improvise a lot. Those days there were no gyms accessible to us so he would use goliath bricks as weights and that worked for us,” said the former Warriors midfielder.

Maenzanise stayed less than two years at Merlin and retraced his roots to Highlanders where he started fighting for a position in a star-studded midfield. He describes competition as having been very stiff.

Maenzanise’s first match for the first team was in 1987 when they returned from the Aberdeen Festival. He said Dynamos were leading 4-0 when Barry Daka asked him to come in with another junior player.

“It was a cup game. Dynamos led 4-0 and Barry Daka’s touchline chat was go in there and make a difference, its your chance maybe you can turn things around and we won 5-4. Moses Chunga and the late Gift Mpariwa were on top of their game then and we lost by that margin,” said Maenzanise.

A fallout out with new coach Roy Barreto in 1989 saw him leave for Zimbabwe Saints.
“Bro there was so much talent at Bosso that included Willard, Tito, David Phiri, Thoko Sithole, Ronnie Jowa, Tutani and Nkosana Sibanda and later Thulani Nxumalo all battling for midfield positions. Some were lucky to have played for national junior teams, I never was considered but I would say I am better than some of those who had been called up but my loss was because of the move to play for obscure Merlin Husky.

“Barreto seemed not to appreciate my style and was hard on me. He said I smoked mbanje but I was not the only one doing so. I found myself with no option but to leave despite having enjoyed my stay at the club winning a lot of medals from the juniors to the first team,” said the player known as Humpty or Jackal by his teammates during his days.

Maenzanise who speaks Chewa, Ndebele, Shona and English was lucky to get a job through former Highlanders chairman the late Douglas Mkwananzi as a court interpreter.

He dismisses allegations that he once asked an accused to change relish from okra to beef having failed to interpret the word idelele to English.

“People were being mischievous, nothing like that ever occurred,” said the former star.
He quit faction riddled Zimbabwe Saints in 1991. At that time he said the fights had escalated to an extent that there were almost three factions jostling for the control of the club and that morale was rock bottom among the players.

Professor Lawrence Ngubane who had watched him in a match in Harare invited him to join Daberton Callies of Durban where he played alongside Chippa Molatedi, legendary Harold Legodi, Calvin Petersen and dribbling ace Zane Moosa. There were promoted into the Premiership where Saints officials on hearing about him sought to get money from his transfer and was eventually moved to Royal Tigers where he met Kenny Niemach later to player for Mamelodi Sundowns and Arthur Bartmann. Once again they won promotion and there was need for him to regularise his transfer as the manner in which he had been transferred was irregular.

On the Christmas of 1994 Maenzanise was asked to bring three players and a coach by the club from Zimbabwe.
He identified Cassius Siziba, Musa Masango and the late Melusi Nkiwane with Henry Mushonga going as coach.
“I was disappointed when the three did not make it but Mushonga made the grade and he stayed on until he later moved to Gauteng to work at the Kaizer Chiefs Academy. But after a while I got home sick and came back. I contemplated on whether to go back to Bosso or Saints and after over a year being a cross border trader, I joined AmaZulu in 1996.

“Amazulu were like the Chelsea of Zimbabwe. Had players from different backgrounds. That season we were promoted and we had great players like Nkululeko Dlodlo, Mthandazo Sithole, Arnold Tsuro, Nhlanhla Sithole, Isaac Riyano. King Jones and Howard Mago. The club was organised,” said Maenzanise.

He blames himself for turning down opportunities to play in Australia, the US, Kaizer Chiefs and Moroka Swallows.
AmaZulu, he said, paid so well and attended to their welfare in a manner that there was no incentive to want to play abroad having tasted a bit of it in Durban.

Maenzanise recalls lining up with Riyano, Ronald Sibanda and Nkosana Gumbo.
“It was a good midfield combination of our time. It might not have had the class of the guys I played with at Highlanders but we gave our opponents a good run for their money,” said Maenzanise.

Playing for the national team he said was a great honour. He said had he played for the junior national teams, his career could have taken another direction as his talent could have been recognised beyond the country’s borders earlier.

He played under Sunday Chidzambwa, Benedict Moyo, Marc Duvillard, Roy Barreto, Clemens Westerhof who once described him as the Jay Jay Okocha of Zimbabwe, Gibson Homela and Barry Daka in Warriors colours.

An inguinal hernia injury at the age of 33 forced his retirement. It is the year AmaZulu won the Castle Lager Premiership a fitting closing chapter for one of the greatest footballers to play for AmaZulu, Highlanders, Zimbabwe Saints and the Warriors.
Maezanise said he is up for the taking and would love to improve his coaching credentials beyond the Level Three he has.

“Lack of funding has impeded my development as a coach.
I would love to work for an academy where you know you will be judged over a long time but competitive football would be a worthwhile challenge as I intend giving back to the game,’ said Maenzanise.

He describes Lancashire Steel’s Clifford Makhiyi as having been one of his toughest opponents while his mother MaNkomazana made all the difference to him.

At Highlanders he said senior players like Bigboy Ndlovu and Tito Paketh were quite supportive.
Many believe his partnering in a five-man midfield with Paketh, Khumalo, Sithole, Tutani and himself could have been great.
“Unfortunately for some reason or the other we really never were at a point where we could be fielded like that,” he said.