Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube [email protected]
FORMER Zimbabwe national team goalkeeper Lucky Dube will be remembered next Saturday with a tombstone unveiling ceremony and a football tournament in Bulawayo as family, friends and the football fraternity celebrate the life of one of the country’s most gifted goalkeepers.
Dube, who died in 1997 at the age of 34, would have turned 63 on Thursday last week.
His widow, Mrs Sekani Dube (née Ntutu), confirmed that the family had organised a day of remembrance beginning with the unveiling of his tombstone in the morning before a social football tournament featuring four teams in Mzilikazi.
“I am delighted that we will celebrate his life as family, my two sons with him and their four brothers. The children have come together to arrange the ceremony and we will have football because it was his love and it gave him fame and fortune,” she said.
The tournament will feature Wolves of Nguboyenja, Madamara FC, Barbourfields Stars and Mzilikazi United, clubs chosen because Dube grew up in Mzilikazi and interacted closely with young footballers from neighbouring Nguboyenja.
Born in Bulawayo, Dube attended Nhlambabaloyi Primary School before completing his Grade Seven education at Mzilikazi High School. He began his football career at Highlanders juniors before joining Bulawayo Wanderers, where his talent quickly became evident.
By 1980, he had earned selection into Zimbabwe’s pioneering Under-20 national team shortly after Independence.
His performances later earned him a move to Bata Power before joining Dynamos, where he replaced Japhet Mparutsa after the latter moved to Black Rhinos in 1983. During his successful stay in Harare, Dube won several trophies with the Glamour Boys before returning to Bulawayo in 1989.
Mrs Dube recalled how she was introduced to football through him.
“One day around 1980 when I was still at school, he asked me to accompany him to a football match. My brother Felix played football but I did not care much about the sport. I agreed to accompany him and we found curtain-raisers in action. I did not know Lucky Dube was a football player.
“After watching for a while, he excused himself and said he would be back shortly. My jaw dropped when I saw him in football gear starting for Bulawayo Wanderers. The rest is history. He gave me two wonderful sons, Thabo and Nhlanhla. He was a loving man, very sociable and quite smart,” she said.
Both sons followed their father into football. Nhlanhla played for Highlanders and Zimbabwe Saints, while Thabo graduated from Rutz Celtics juniors into the club’s Division Two side that later won promotion to Division One.
Thabo said growing up as the son of a football legend came with enormous expectations.
“I think I speak for all my siblings when I say growing up as a legend’s son was not easy because people expected the same or even better from us. He always reminded us that we had big shoes to fill.
“Our father was a legend, the smartest man I have ever known. He was punctual, disciplined and always encouraged us to think outside the box,” he said.
Dynamos chairman Vincent Chawonza described Dube as one of the club’s outstanding servants.
“Without doubt he is a Dynamos legend and he won a lot with the club. He will always remain in our hearts and Dynamos will participate in the day chosen by his family to remember him,” said Chawonza.
Former national team goalkeeper Japhet Mparutsa, who competed with Dube for places in the Under-20 side, recently paid tribute to him on social media.
“Lucky Dube was our first-choice goalkeeper. He was tall, gifted, confident and naturally talented. He carried himself with professionalism and pride,” wrote Mparutsa.
He said competing with Dube pushed him to improve his own game.
“I respected Lucky because he was talented, but I also believed in my own ability and wanted to keep improving. Competing with a talented goalkeeper like him pushed me to become better,” he wrote. Mparutsa would later become the first goalkeeper to win the Soccer Star of the Year award in 1982.
Dube and Mparutsa were part of a generation of goalkeepers that included Frank Mkanga, Victor Dliwayo, Posani Sibanda, Mike Mhlanga, Stewart Gilbert, Raphael Phiri, Labani Kandi and Peter Nkomo.
Nearly three decades after his death, Dube remains fondly remembered by family, former teammates, supporters and football historians as a talented goalkeeper whose elegance, intelligence and professionalism left a lasting mark on Zimbabwean football.
