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Bongani Ndlovu, Chronicle Reporter
NDUMISO Gumede was a man who had many facets to his life, from being a football administrator, a teacher and being in the arts sector.

Gumede died on Wednesday afternoon at the age of 76, at Mpilo Central Hospital after a short illness.

He dabbled in these three sectors for almost 50 years.

As a mathematics teacher and sports master, Gumede taught at Highfield Secondary School from 1969 to 1975 and he left a mark on all his former pupils.

One of them is veteran broadcaster John Masuku, who recalled how it was being in Gumede’s maths classes between 1970 and 1971.

“He was a very gifted teacher and he used his humour to make his mathematics lessons very interesting. Even when you felt that the subject is becoming very difficult, he would find a way of simplifying it through humour and very simple examples that would make you understand,” said Masuku.

He said Gumede was involved in grooming the likes of the late football legends Shacky Tauro and Oliver Kateya.

“He taught Form Ones and Form Twos for their Junior Certificate, and after that we would meet Gumede in other school activities, particularly football. He coached, the school team, which had people like Tauro (Caps United), Rodrick Mukaniri (Black Aces) and Kateya (Dynamos), among others.

All these came from Highfield Secondary School and they were playing for the second teams of the Rhodesian Football League, but ended up playing top flight football,” said Masuku.

Gumede left Highfield Secondary in 1975 when he was transferred to Mzilikazi High School in Bulawayo.

At Mzilikazi, Highlanders’ legend Netsai Moyo and Caps United great Mpumelelo Dzowa were among his pupils from 1979 to 1982.

Moyo vividly remembers that Gumede would make sure they did not miss their lessons despite playing for the school team in national tournaments, which would sometimes take them away from class during weekdays.

“The fact that he knew me as a junior at Highlanders, he worked it out that we balanced football and schoolwork. When I attended Mzilikazi Secondary, we were playing games in the Chibuku finals for Under-14s and we had to travel to Gweru for the semi-finals during the week. He would be able to facilitate and arrange with teachers that when you come back you are able to catch up on what you’d have missed,” said Moyo.

“As a teacher, he was an exciting character. He would crack a joke before teaching and that would make you remember a formula because of the joke. He was a very funny character, always joking and even the classes were loud and you could cope even in other lessons,” said Moyo.

He said it was devastating that Zimbabwe had lost such a knowledgeable man in football administration.

“His death is indeed devastating. He has been with Zifa for some time and participated in what the SRC were doing. He was an administrator who had ideas on trying to improve our football in Zimbabwe. It’s a great loss as a whole, football is poorer without him,” said Moyo.

In the arts, Gumede revealed to Chronicle Sport early this year that Lovemore Majaivana’s 1980s hit song Badlala njani, a tribute to Highlanders FC, was an idea he suggested to the musician.

The song Badlala njani, at the time, Gumede said, captured Bosso’s trailblazing sides of the 1980s and mood among their fans in Bulawayo.

Before Majaivana released the song, Gumede recalled him flying around the idea of doing a song about the club.

“I sometimes used to join his band for performances on stage back then because I enjoyed his music. One day he just said he was thinking of writing a song about the team, but he never came back to us and the next thing we just heard the song being played on radio,” said Gumede.

“So, the song was Majaivana’s own initiative and there was no input from us. It was his and his alone, but we loved it, our fans loved it, and it just became our fans’ song of choice, especially after watching live the players in the song doing exactly what he sang.”

Gumede was also a prolific actor, who featured in several local film and television productions.

He first got involved in acting through the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) radio dramas where he was part of the cast of “Sakhelene Zinini” written by legendary broadcasters Harry Nleya and Amon Nyamambi.

His first foray into film was when he did the choreography for the uprising song in the 1987 epic drama film, “Cry Freedom”, directed and produced by Richard Attenborough.

In front of the camera, his major break came when he landed the role of a priest counselling a newlywed couple on how to avoid contracting HIV in “Xola” written by Busi Dlodlo.

Gumede then appeared in several other local productions, including “More Time” in 1993 where he played the role of Baba Ncube.

In 2000, Gumede played the role of Coach in “Yellow Card” directed by John Riber with Leeroy Gopal as the main actor also featuring the late Lazarus ‘Gringo’ Boora.

Veteran culturalist, writer and historian Pathisa Nyathi said Gumede was one of his closest friends, as they shared common interests such as education, the arts and at one time football.

“He features quite a lot in my biography, because we interact many times. He was coming from a teaching background and so was I. He was an artistic person so we shared that in common.

“I remember one time at Mushandira Pamwe, when we were with Nivat Songo, as we were very close friends. We had booked two rooms for the three of us. So, in the morning the hotel staff were expecting one person in each room, but Gumede hid in the wardrobe from them. I was reminding him during my 70th birthday at my homestead earlier this year,” said Nyathi.

He said in his book under the section The Partying Friends, Gumede and him feature prominently.

“We used to dance and have fun with Gumede. Despite his big body, the man could dance. We used to come with bottles of whiskey or any other spirit, and we would meet, at number 20 in Barbourfields. I think it’s now a pharmacy. But at that time, it was where Jack Mlangeni Ncube stayed and he was also part of the crew, which loved to party and buy alcohol. That was the time of stereos, the Super 60 and Super 80 and we used these to play music and dance till the break of dawn,” said Nyathi.
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