Online Reporter
Innocent Kurira
HIGHLANDERS’ biggest battle on Sunday will not be against old rivalries Caps United.
Instead, it will be against grief.
As Bosso prepare for their Castle Lager Premier Soccer League showdown against Makepekepe at Rufaro Stadium, they face the daunting emotional task of returning to the very road where four members of the Highlanders family lost their lives in a horrific accident just a week ago.
The tragedy, which claimed club chairman Retired Colonel Kenneth Mhlophe, vice-chairman Fiso Siziba, board member responsible for finance Nkani Khoza and club member Mbalenhle Sibanda about 60 kilometres outside Bulawayo on the Bulawayo-Gweru Road, has cast a dark cloud over one of Zimbabwe’s biggest football institutions.
All four have since been laid to rest, with Mhlophe buried with full military honours at Lady Stanley Cemetery on Tuesday, while Siziba and Khoza were buried at the same cemetery on Monday following a joint memorial service at Barbourfields Stadium that attracted thousands of mourners.
Sibanda was laid to rest at her family home in Hlatshwayo, Insiza District.
Now comes the difficult part.
The Highlanders team bus will once again travel along the same stretch of road, forcing players and officials to relive painful memories before they even reach Harare.
Football analyst Dumisani Dhlakama believes the encounter will be unlike any other.
“I think it is going to be an emotional game for both teams. It is probably the first time a club has lost three members of its executive at the same time in the country. It was really a national crisis which will affect both teams emotionally,” said Dhlakama.
“For Highlanders, the approach really must be to play for the leaders they lost and at least put up a fight for them. Despite everything in the build-up to the game, CAPS United versus Highlanders is a big game and will remain like that. These two clubs have produced epic clashes in the past and I expect Sunday to be no exception.”
Football blogger Bucie Ncube believes Bosso can draw strength from their pain.
“The boys have to give everything. It will be emotional, but they have to play for their leaders. They have to be strong mentally. They will use the same road and pass the exact spot where the accident happened. Everything is still fresh, so it is more about Highlanders winning the battle of emotions. They can channel all those emotions into their search for victory,” she said.
Football coach Kudzai Mhandire feels the club is dealing with circumstances that go beyond football.
“First, you need a psychologist for this. It is not every day that you lose three parents at once.
“These players were probably spending more time with these three than with their own families,” said Mhandire.
“The best way to motivate the boys is to ask them to play for the three in absentia and remind them what this club meant to them. At the same time, they have to play for the magnitude of Highlanders supporters who need consolation.”
