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EDELBERT Dinha had a very unusual junior football career.

He grew up in Chitungwiza, a dormitory town of Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, a place known for breeding some of the country’s most eccentric characters.

It is the same town that gave Zimbabwe Sungura music king Alick Macheso, one of the country’s most famous and successful musicians, who, under the spell of his own music, has been known to strum a guitar with his teeth, chin or shoulders.

It is the town that gave Zimbabwe Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa, a maverick Man of God who once unleashed generous portions of an anointing oil which he claimed could tackle all stubborn ailments ranging from HIV/Aids to cancer.

More recently, the same man of the cloth, the first to fill the country’s 60 000-seater National Sports Stadium, came under the spotlight when he seemingly waged a campaign against Covid-19 vaccination.

In a town that has given birth to such eccentricities, Dinha was unlikely to have a straightforward start to his career.

As a junior player at Black Rhinos, he was a reserve goalkeeper.

At that age, most players’ positions are already well defined, as they get primed for a character in the professional ranks. This was not so for Dinha.

When he removed club colours and turned out for his school, he would suddenly transform into a rock-solid defender.

While Dinha did not have a problem jumping from one line of defence to another, one of his coaches did.

“When I was at school, I was a goalkeeper at Black Rhinos Under-16,” Dinha tells Zambezi News in an exclusive interview in Johannesburg.

“I was the reserve goalkeeper. At school I played as a defender. The late Never Gombera saw me playing at school and said ‘you must stop this goalkeeper nonsense’. He converted me into a defender.”

It was an unlikely start to a career that would go on to garner legendary status.

Perhaps it was no wonder that Dinha felt comfortable in two completely different positions on the pitch.

After all, football seemed to run in the Dinha blood, with his brother Chester enjoying a promising young career. To this day, he still believes his brother was more talented.

“Football is a game I loved so much from a young age, but my brother was actually better than me. Unfortunately, he got injured and had to stop. I carried on because of the love of the game,” he said.

Soon, Dinha found himself in the hands of Wieslaw Grabowski, a maverick Polish national who had set up roots in Zimbabwe, establishing Darryn Tornadoes, an outfit that would become one of the country’s greatest talent factories in the 1990s.

It was at Darryn T where he would form a core of young players that are regarded in some circles as Zimbabwe’s golden generation.

“I grew up with the likes of Gift Muzadzi, Alois Bunjira, Stewart Murisa and Norman Mapeza. We met as youth players because we used to play against each other at school.

“From Under-16 level, I joined Norman, Alois and Stewart. We played for Cone Textiles as juniors. When they changed from Cone Textiles to Darryn T, there was an incident where the senior team players refused to play a cup game against Dynamos because of money issues.

“Never Gombera told Grabowski that he had players that could compete, referring to us the reserve side players. Grabowski was a bit sceptical, but he eventually agreed. So, we trained and eventually played the game. We lost 1-0 in the second half of extra time. From there, we were absorbed into the first team. We never looked back,” he recalls.

Former Darryn T, Caps United, Wits and Sundowns star Bunjira, who also played with Dinha in the Zimbabwe Under-23 squad, recalls:

“He was an interesting guy. The first time I played in the same team with him was at Black Rhinos where he was a goalkeeper. We’d also meet in schools’ competitions because I was at Zengeza 1 and he was at Zengeza 4 High School (in Chitungwiza) and played as a midfielder.

“We then met at Darryn T and got promoted together at the same time, same match, but he was now a defender in 1991. We won the Castle Cup together; it was such a special moment.”

Just like Bunjira and many of the Darryn T stars, Dinha would later move to Harare giants Caps United, one of the country’s traditional big three sides.

At Caps United, his migration up the pitch would continue.

“I remember in the Under-23s at the All-Africa Games (in 1995) we were playing against Congo and I was moved from central defender to defensive midfield. At Caps, they played me as right-back.”

Whether by accident or design, his reputation as an on-field nomad was cemented.

According to SuperSport United coach Kaitano Tembo, then a bitter rival at Makepekepe’s cross city rivals Dynamos, Dinha’s skills meant that he was wasted on the right side of defence.

“He was playing as a right-back; the type you find attacking. He was technically good on the ball and a good crosser of the ball. They realised they were wasting talent playing him at right-back,” said Tembo.

He recalls how Gavin Hunt played Dinha as a right-back for just 10 minutes before he realised that his talents were better deployed elsewhere.

“Gavin just saw him and moved him quickly, he could see his qualities. He was meant to form the spine of the team. He did well, it changed everything in terms of his career. Wingers were very quick those days. Eddie was not the quickest, but he was more of a thinker. We’d have a proper balance if Eddie played in midfield with his basic football intelligence,” Tembo explained to Zambezi News.

In the national team, his capabilities as a utility player were also recognised. It was during one of these matches that he won the heart of a coach at Seven Stars.

That coach was Hunt.

“Seven Stars were owned by Rob Moore, and Gavin Hunt was the coach. Gavin actually saw me playing on TV on a Sunday and they called Caps United. I met Gavin Hunt the following day (Monday), Tuesday we played a friendly match and after 45 minutes he said ‘go to the office and sign a contract,” the ex-Warriors star recalls.

From Chitungwiza, the young man finally found himself in the Mother City, Cape Town, albeit via Poland, Turkey and Harare.

But Dinha says his time overseas was tough because of racism. He played for Petrol Ofisi in Turkey for just six months between November 1994 and July 1995.

He then had a brief spell with Polish side Sokó Pniewy the following season.

“I was a young boy who didn’t know anything about Europe, it was Poland where they don’t speak English. There was a lot of racism.

Imagine these things happening for the first time, I didn’t know how to deal with them. It was challenging,” he said.

The greatest players shine on the biggest stages and for Dinha, a match against Orlando Pirates was always a chance to turn on the style.
After a few distinguished displays against the skull and crossbones, tzars at the Soweto club began to notice this young lad from a little town on the edge of Harare called Chitungwiza.

“Seven Stars merged with Cape Town Spurs to form Ajax Cape Town. Ajax continued to play me in defensive midfield. I got used to all those positions and I’d be comfortable anywhere. While I was at Ajax, John Comitis told me he had offers at Pirates and Sundowns, but I asked him to advise me. He said ‘go to Pirates’. I guess the interest came because every time we played Pirates I’d do extremely well. I would actually score,” said Dinha, who went on to captain the Buccaneers.

While Pirates’ appetite for the then Zimbabwe international was already whetted by the performances he had put against them, there were other sharks swimming in the Cape waters, showing an equally ravenous interest in him.

Despite that interest, Comitis said the speed at which the Bucs moved to cement the move took them by surprise.

“Pirates were already talking to him through his agent, they surprised us because we hadn’t decided what we would do. They went ahead and contacted him. It almost forced our hand because the price was very high. It made sense because he was a great leader, led from the front, spoke from the back, he was a top professional,” Comitis told Zambezi News.

From the backwaters of Chitungwiza, Dinha had made it to Poland and Turkey, before turning for one of Zimbabwe’s biggest sides, Caps United.

In South Africa, he had been there at the birth of Ajax Cape Town, while also turning out for his national team, the Zimbabwe Warriors.
Nothing, however, could have prepared him for the baptism of fire that was life at Pirates.

“Pirates were good, there was too much pressure and the supporters demanded results, you had to be on your toes all the time. It was pressure I was never used to,” the soft-spoken Dinha said.

He would soon find himself given the skipper’s armband at the Soweto giants, as he was tasked with steering a Buccaneers ship, which, due to the pressure of fans, is never far from troubled waters.

Luckily for him, in Augusto Palacios he met a coach that made a difficult job a bit easier.

“I was captain at Ajax, and Pirates made me captain after a season with them. If you’re the captain and can’t handle pressure with your teammates, people can see it. When the chips are down you have to lead the troops, but Palacios made it all enjoyable,” said the 48-year-old.

Palacios, who oversaw the establishment of Pirates’ academy, that gave birth to talents like Gift Leremi, Benedict Vilakazi, Joseph Makhanya and Lebogang Mokoena in the late-90s, felt his acquisition from Ajax had what it took to lead his young charges.

“Eddie was a natural leader and I felt he could lead the young team that we had at the time. There were young boys who needed someone with experience to guide them on the field of play and I knew Eddie was the right person,” the Peruvian coach told Zambezi News.

When you talk about Palacios, Dinha’s heart just melts. “That guy, if I can start talking about him now, I’ll need four days. He taught me a different type of football. If he said training is 1 hour 15 minutes, it was not going to be 1 hour 16 minutes. He kept time. He would not even add a second.

“He was always entertaining us; we were not serious all the time. He had a good balance. He would allow his players to have fun on the field. He would want to know the type of person you’re married to. He did it with me, he took us for lunch with my partner. It made me feel loved, very comfortable and made me enjoy his presence,” said Dinha.

In his illustrious career, Dinha certainly lived a charmed life.

From a young lad, who was seemingly confused about his actual role on the football field, he transformed into a utility player and a leader that played football at the highest level in various parts of the globe.

Now at Shumba Sports Management in Johannesburg, Dinha is ploughing back into the sport that gave him so much.
But he says he has been forced to halt his academy project because of Covid-19.

He says he has a number of boys in the team who are ripe for the PSL and promises that we will soon see them.

As he looks back, his only wish is that the junior structures that nurtured him, and took a wannabe goalkeeper and turned him into a midfielder and ultimately the captain of Orlando Pirates, could be revived and give other young players from small towns, like himself, a chance to hit the big time.

“We’ve taken over the late Butler Masango’s project, we decided to not let it die, together with Innocent Chikoya, Erasmus Chauke and Alexander Maseko. We’re here to help these boys who have dreams of making it into the top flight,” he said.

Nowadays, time allowing, Dinha, still fitter than many professionals, plays social football. It gives him the opportunity to reunite with other former players, such as homeboys Tinashe Nengomasha and Chikoya.

But the father of two looks back at his many transformations with a mix of nostalgia, disbelief and satisfaction. He has been there, done that. – Zambezi News