Zimpapers Logo

Fungai Muderere, Senior Sports Reporter
AFTER being picked by former national team winger Joel Luphahla among his best Highlanders 11 of all-time, Dumisani “Savimbi” Nyoni reckons ex-Warriors’ midfield kingpin Ronald “Gidiza” Sibanda could have easily walked into any of the great Bosso sides.

“It’s an honour to have one of our respected players recognising the great works I did for Highlanders. But truth be told, I would have loved to play alongside players in the mould of Ronald Sibanda. Gidiza was something else. I will always respect his ball control and distribution.

He was a midfielder par excellence. It’s unfortunate he didn’t play for Highlanders, but he was easily going to make it into Bosso’s Hall of Fame,” said Nyoni.

Endowed with intelligent reading of the game, excellent touch and pin-point passing, the script was always written that Gidiza, a former Zimbabwe Saints, Dynamos and AmaZulu midfielder, was destined for a wider football audience, but his intended moves to foreign leagues were blighted by misfortune.

Bosso fans resented him for frustrating them, more so after declining a move to the zebra striped side in 1998 in favour of a move to their fierce rivals Dynamos.

Since his national team debut in 1998, Gidiza went on to earn more than 50 Warriors’ caps and featured in two Africa Cup of Nations.

He had trial stints with English Premiership side Sunderland as well as Polish topflight league outfit Slask Wroclaw.

He also tried his luck at Germany Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt, whilst South African side Umtata Bush Bucks failed to lure him.

@FungaiMuderere