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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter 

The late former Highlanders chairman Ernest Maphepha Sibanda, who died at a private health facility on Tuesday morning will be interrred at the Lady Stanley Cemetery on Saturday although the family is still waiting for few confirmations on the matter.

Maphepha, whose death left the entire football fraternity in the country shocked and saddened, succumbed to diabetis.

“That is our wish (Lady Stanley Cemetery burial) and it all points to that but we are currently waiting for one or two confirmations,” said family spokesperson and Sibanda’s sister Beauty.

Meanwhile, National Darts Association of Zimbabwe (Ndaz) president Meynard Moyo has called on sports administrators in the country to emulate Sibanda’s humility and view everyone including sports disciplines, in equal measure.

” When I met him for the first time, I couldn’t believe it that this was the famous Ernest we were reading and hearing about in print and electronic media, a guy who had led a mass followed organisation like Highlanders. He was so humble, so down to earth and for a man of his statue one would have thought the fella would want everyone to listen to him things like that. But no, that was not the case, Maphepha treated everyone with respect,” said Moyo.

“Darts is usually viewed or looked down by some people including some administrators of these so-called big sport codes yet here was a man who had seen it all giving darts all the respect. As sports administrators we should all embrace that humility by Maphepha. I know football has lost an icon but I see it as a loss for sports, the man respected everyone,” said the Ndaz president.

Maphepha was also a committee member for the Bulawayo Metropolitan Darts Association.