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The Cool Ruler is still as cool as a cucumber. Zambezi News recently caught up with Zimbabwe football legend Alexander Maseko for an exclusive interview, taking his fans down memory lane from his years at Bulawayo giants Highlanders, to the Warriors and to Mamelodi Sundowns.

As the captain of Zimbabwean Premier Soccer League giants Highlanders, and vital member of the Dream Team coached by the late German gaffer Reinhard Fabisch, Maseko was exemplary on and off the pitch.

Many years after he hung up his boots, Zambezi News’ Mthokozisi Dube met the man in Johannesburg.

When we meet at Tasha’s restaurant at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, you’d think we’ve known each other for many years.

But it’s actually the first time we’re meeting with the man known by legions of football fans as the “Cool Ruler”, Alexander Maseko. And what a cool dude!

Straight after exchanging pleasantries, he coolly excuses himself to call his wife of 30 years, Skina Maseko, just to let her know where he is.

Reading too much into the accountability to his partner leaves me feeling like a “small boy” in this marriage business.

Of course, I am! The man has been doing this for a whole three decades and still counting.

“Sorry, I was just letting my wife know that I’m here with you,” the man affectionately known as “Zanda” says with all humility.

Without a doubt, he is a man who debunked the widely believed notion that footballers are notorious for hopping from one bed to another.

Detailing how he met his wife in the late 1980s gives him away as a hopeless romantic. “It’s been 30 years, I’m still married to the same woman. We got married in March 1991,” he recalls, stressing how important that step was in his life.

Like most of us, Maseko was not lucky on his first shot at trying to settle down as he talks of betrayal before he finally struck gold by meeting the woman of his dreams.

“I introduced one girl to my dad. After she left, he called me and told me ‘there’s no makoti here’. Funny enough, I’d been hearing stories about her. One day our game was postponed, and we were released from camp. While walking in town, I saw her with my own eyes with another guy,” Maseko tells ZambeziNews24.

Cool as a cucumber, Zanda made sure he walked past them just so she could see him.

“She was so embarrassed when she saw me. I gave up on dating that day.”

Heartbroken and hesitant to commit to relationships after that incident, Maseko then finally found the love of his life.

“My cousin then told me about a girl who was in the same situation as me. He asked me to meet with her. I was hesitant, but he insisted. A blind date was organised, and we met at the Oasis Hotel in Harare,” he says.

The “coolest ruler on planet football” has a beaming smile when he talks about how stunning the girl looked.

Interestingly, she wasn’t a football person and didn’t know who he was.

He hardly said a word on the first date. Luckily, his cousin was there to do all the talking.

“The only thing I said was ‘can I see you again tomorrow’. She agreed and we met again, that was it!”

Three years later, they tied the knot while expecting their first child. It was a union blessed by his father, who also played for Northern Rhodesia as a defender.

“When I introduced her to my dad, she wrapped a cloth around herself, looked dignified and sat on the carpet. When she left, my dad called me and told me that was a wife,” says the father of three.

The man who was master of ceremony at his wedding, veteran football administrator Ndumiso Gumede, says his decision to settle down early was a masterstroke.

“He was my boy when I was at Highlanders. I was very close to the family,” Gumede tells Zambezi News.

On the football front, his career was flourishing. The man nicknamed Cool Ruler for the calm and collected manner in which he marshalled the defence, started his career at DRG Viking, a company football team playing in the lower leagues.

He had been offered employment as a dispatch clerk in 1982.

“I never really took football seriously because it was a work thing, but people would often tell me I was good,” he says.

Then a chance to join Highlanders presented itself. But before making a breakthrough into the Bosso first team, he had to deal with rejection first.

“I went to Highlanders for trials in Nguboyenja, Lawrence Phiri was manager. They did trials and then they trimmed, they never called me,” he explains.

In 1983, when the Bulawayo giants were almost relegated, Bobby Clarke spotted him while scouting for talent.

“I used to play number 10 and Bobby noticed me. I heard from the company’s management that Highlanders wanted me. But I’d given up.

“They encouraged me to give it a try. Eventually, Highlanders bought me for $500. Ten percent of that money that I got was a lot of money.”

His maiden season at Tshilamoya was in the reserve side, only breaking into the first team the following year after a series of five-star performances in the reserves.

Now at Bosso, getting first team opportunities did not come easy in a star-studded team with big names like Douglas “British” Mloyi, Netsai Moyo and Ernest “Maphepha” Sibanda.

“I played number 10 or six and one day Douglas was injured and Cosmas ‘Tsano’ Zulu suggested they try me at the back. In my first game at the back, I dribbled strikers and they nicknamed me Cool Ruler.”

His former schoolmate Rahman Gumbo recalls how he became so comfortable in the heart of defence, even earning himself national team call ups as a centre-back.

“I played with him at Mpopoma High School, he was a goalkeeper and would concede five or six goals,” Gumbo says as he bursts into laughter.

“When we later met at Highlanders he was now a defender. But because he had also played as a midfielder before, it was easy for him to actively participate in progressing the ball and starting attacks, rather than only thwarting the opposition attacks.”

He further describes him as skilful, composed and fearless.

“That’s why they called him Cool Ruler, he never panicked at all,” adds Gumbo, who is head coach of Botswana side Sua Flamingoes.

Maseko’s most memorable season in Bosso colours was 1986. That year, they were dubbed the Cup Kings, after sweeping every piece of silverware on offer in Zimbabwean football, except the league title.

They won the Independence Trophy, Rothmans Shield, Chibuku Cup, Natbrew Cup and the Heroes Cup.

He parted ways with Highlanders in 1988, four years after arriving at the club, relocating to Harare where he turned out for Darryn Tornadoes.

After two years at Darryn T, Maseko was back at Bosso, this time helping them win their first league title in 1990.

But a strange set-up threatened his Highlanders career in that he was working in Harare and training there during the week and then would join the team for weekend fixtures.

“I found a job in Harare and my girlfriend was also from Harare. A suggestion was made that I train with another club and then only come to play matches.

“When Roy Baretto came, I don’t think he liked that arrangement. So he would bench me during that period and it was frustrating,” explains Maseko.

Prominent Mpumalanga businessman Robert Gumede, who owned yesteryear club Dangerous Darkies, stepped in to rescue him, orchestrating a move to South Africa in 1991. The then Dangerous Darkies supremo invited him for a week to come and spy the land before making a switch.

“During that week, Dangerous Darkies were playing Kaizer Chiefs at Wits. The team sheet didn’t have my name, but they wrote Donald Mkhondwane. It turned out that particular player was away on the day and I had to play in his place.

“I enjoyed that game and it so happened that Sundowns people were there at the stadium. They signed me after that game.”

Natasha Tsichlas, who was the owner of Mamelodi Sundowns at the time, says they could not pass up the opportunity to sign a brilliant player like Zanda.

“He was exceptional, one of the best,” she tells ZambeziNews24.

Hanging up his boots at the ripe age of 28, Maseko’s last bow is a tale of pain and frustration.

Although he quickly found something to fall back on, the former Highlanders defence stalwart still remembers how his playing career ended.

A career-ending tackle by Bernard ‘Shoes’ Lushozi while playing for Tshwane giants Sundowns against Orlando Pirates in 1996 saw Maseko never return to the pitch again.

That was not only the end of his five-year stint at MaSandawana, but his career.

Making it even more unceremonious was the fact that Masandawana deserted him during his hour of need.

It was not something expected for a giant in South African football.

“Sundowns didn’t even look at me because they were busy concentrating on preparing for the season. They also refused to cover my medical bills,” Maseko says with the same composure he often displayed on the field of play.

“I decided not to fight them. Around the same time, President Nelson Mandela had announced that all those who had stayed for five years and above in South Africa could apply for exemption. I applied and got citizenship. I then notified the club I was done with football.”

That was it for ‘Zanda’. He had to kiss goodbye the game that gave him fame.

He had to leave a team he had helped win the league title in 1993.

It was the end of a stint which saw him share the Downs dressing room with some Mzansi legends like the late trio of Phil and Bennett Masinga as well as Samuel ‘Ewie’ Khambule, Isaac Shai, Joel ‘Fire’ Masilela, Harold Legodi and Linda Buthelezi.

At 28, he was at the peak of his game, but he had to turn his back on football and do something else.

Usually, when some footballers’ careers are cut short, they are left stranded and sometimes broke having not invested enough for life after football.

Some are left weighing up options whether to venture into coaching or be involved in the game in any other capacity. But that was not the case for the Cool Ruler.

“I took my CV and submitted it to (Global System for Mobile Communications) GSM, who were looking for a salesman. I didn’t even care what job it was, I just wanted to leave football. I had a Diploma in PR, sales and marketing,” he says.

All he wanted was a change of scenery. He had already made money from selling contract phones to companies while playing football for the Tshwane giants.

In the early 90s, a weekly wage of R1 800 was good money with the price of bread at R3 and a litre of petrol was R3.50.

He turned his focus to educating his children.

“I had served a group of guys and they took a liking of me, so they invited me for lunch. They made an offer for me to manage one of their shops.”

Months later when the shop closed, another similar offer awaited him.

“It was an offer to manage a shop. Eventually, they made me a partner for one of the shops in Boulders.”

Thanks to his excellent management, the shop was voted the Most Improved Franchise in 2007.

The 52-year-old Zanda is, however, not lost to football, as he runs Focus Sports Management, a company that seeks to carve open opportunities for football stars in the region. – Zambezi News24.com