Chronicle Editor
TO many, the name Charles Ndebele resonates with Kalanga Tshibilika music as he is the founder of legendary group Ndolwane Super Sounds.
But there is another whose legendary status was stolen by arguably Zimbabwe’s best goalkeeper in the last 43 years by the same name, who has been thrown into football’s lost memory reserves.
Yet he belongs to football history as the goalkeeper who was at the helm at Black Rhinos when the team won promotion into the then Super League. He had been the team’s first choice goalkeeper since the establishment of the club in 1982.
Ndebele said some time in 1982, a signal was sent to all army barracks with an invitation for them to send their best players. That marked the formation of Black Rhinos FC who went on to become the 1984 and 1987 league champions.
The trials were conducted by legends Shepherd Murape who had a distinguished career as a player and coach at Dynamos and Ashton “Papa” Nyazika who had made his name at trailblazing Caps United and at some stage at Glen Strikers.
“We were 150 players from all over the country who attended the trials, some from Zanla, Zipra (liberation forces) and Rhodesian Front but after the integration exercise we were all now under the Zimbabwe National Army. I made it among the best players. I was selected as a winger. I grew up idolising Highlanders FC winger Tommy Masuku, I styled my play around him,” said Ndebele.
Ndebele, born on 15 October 1956 at Old Memorial had grown up in Tshabalala and attended Cement, Airport and Umguza primary schools and played most of his development soccer in Bulawayo at youth clubs. He recalls playing against Alfred Ngedla Phiri’s Black Aces of Matshobana.
After Umguza Primary School, Ndebele proceeded to Tshabalala to work at B and S Trucks until 1976 when he boarded Suka Sihambe Bus Services to cross into Botswana in Makorokoro to join the struggle.
He did play football with the likes of George Moyo, a Bosso goalkeeper on either side of Independence.
“We played football at Mwembeshi (training base) in between trees that were left high so that the Rhodesian Front soldiers would not identify us on an aerial observation and bomb us,” said Ndebele who on return briefly played for Gwayi River Assembly Point before moving to 2.2 Battalion in Mutoko on 12 August of 1980 after being attested into the Zimbabwe National Army.
He remembers vividly his excitement after making it among the 30 players, but his joy was short-lived on the wing at Black Rhinos.
“One day while we were at training as we were fooling around Murape was impressed with my goalkeeping instincts and immediately switched me to goalkeeping and I never looked back claiming the Number One jersey in our Northern Region Division One campaign in 1983.
“Among the founding players were Droment Chirova (midfielder), Jeremiah (Jerry) Chidawa (striker), Collen Dube (midfield), Edward Dube (midfield), Derrick Sachiti) (midfield) and Robert Ngwenya (striker). Save for Edward who was ex-Rhodesian Army, the other guys were either from Zanla and Zipra. So a franchise was bought for us to campaign in Division One. We had a great team and a good coach in Murape who identified our individual strengths and played us where he felt we were suited. That is how I got to be in goals and our first year was a roller coaster as we won. I had not played league football when I crossed borders to liberate the country,” said Ndebele.
Murape would not be fooled into believing that ex-combatants would stand the heat in the demanding Super League dominated by Caps United, Dynamos and Rio Tinto.
“Murape brought in Japhet Mparutsa, Lovemore Chikunha, Eddie Matsika, Simon Mugabe and Hamid Dhana from Dynamos, from Caps we received Stanley Ndunduma, Stix Mtizwa and William Chikaura and Maronga Nyangela from Black Aces. Later we had players like Bernard Timbenawo and Jimmy Mbewe coming from Bata Power, Carlos Max briefly from Arcadia,” said Ndebele.
He said the arrival of civilians at the beginning of 1984 was a turning point for the founding players, a majority of whom fell by the wayside with him surviving up to 1987 while Chidawa was to be the best of the ex-combatants staying longer and cementing his legendary status in an attack that had Ndunduma on the right, Mtizwa in midfield, Mbewe on the left and and Nyangela and him at the centre.
With Mparutsa, now among the four goalkeepers at the club and Zimbabwe’s number one, Ndebele was reduced to guarding the posts whenever the Short Cat was away on national duty, reducing Ndebele’s appearances to about six to 10 in a season. His best season was in 1984 when they won the Castle Cup and the league title.
“That was the best season of my football career, I learnt a lot from the young and more capable Mparutsa, a great goalkeeper by any measure. We had quality in our side and a great technical team,” said Ndebele.
Other contestants for the goalkeeper’s slot were Lazarus Chete and Lazarus Pararayi from Bata.
He said while some founding players hung on, the arrival of players like Ernest Mutano, Peter Sanderson, Mike Abrahams and Mugo Munyorovi pushed them further down in the perking order.
At the age of 31, Ndebele decided to leave Rhinos to join Bulawayo Jumbo with Pio Matongo as the departure of Murape to Darryn T left some players vulnerable as Nyazika appeared to prefer those with Mbare (Harare) roots.
He hung on as a player at the side that played in the Bulawayo Division Two league and in the Zifa Southern Region Division One till 1997 when at 41, he felt his knees could not stand competitive football and joined the team’s technical team with Ben Dungeni and Regis Manyinda working with players like Manyonga, Gift Zvavanhu, Dampion Ngwenya, Todd Nyadzira, Reason Sibanda and Chimombe Nyika.
The best achievement by the club was narrowly losing 1-0 to Zimbabwe Saints in the 1988 Chibuku Trophy quarter-finals. Chikwata the eventual 1-0 winners of the trophy over Highlanders also won the league title that year.
Ndebele’s Black Rhinos: Japhet Mparutsa (Charles Ndebele), Simon Mugabe, Fanny Nyamukapa, William Chikaura, Lovemore Chikunha, Stix Mtizwa, Hamid Dhana, Stanley Ndunduma, Jerry Chidawa, Maronga Nyangela and Jimmy Mbewe.
Ndebele retired from the army in 2021 upon attaining retirement age of 65 and is now a farmer at Heany outside Bulawayo. He is married to Sibongile Khumalo and blessed with seven kids and three of his sons Nkululeko, Nkasana and Njabulo played lower division football.
Bongani Ndlovu