Chronicle Editor
Yester year greats with Lovemore Dube
Wikipedia describes time as the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occur in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future.
In real life through neglect or deliberate effort some actors of a certain era are forgotten and completely obliterated from history as interests tend to be generational.
This week Sunday News caught up with Collet Dube, perhaps among the last generation of brilliant boys to emerge from the Bulawayo Wanders/Eagles camp. A player who had the talent so brilliant that he was part of a Zimbabwe Under-20 side that conquered Southern Africa.
So talented was the crop that some of the players were stars of the Under-23 national team while others went on to play outside the country.
Dube, who is now resident in South Africa was born in Bulawayo and grew up in notorious for many things Number One (Iminyela). The suburb which neighbours, Mabutweni, Mpopoma, and Pelandaba, is known for both good and bad.
Back in the 1960s and 1970s there was a thriving business for illicit brews, gambling schools, robberies and stabbings were a common occurrence on the negative.
But those into sport celebrate a legacy associated with greatness in the quality of the sportspersons persons to emerge from Iminyela. It is the suburb that was once the home of amateur boxing with notable names like Majuta Mpofu, Ambrose Mlilo, Ndaba Dube, Ndafara, Joyful Mahlangu, Thembani Nyoni, Morris Chiwawula, Ndumiso Mabhena, Nokuthula Tshabangu and Ezwell Ndlovu known to have started and later starred there.
Others like Bekithemba Ngwenya shone in tennis with Elijah Ngwenya a great in athletics. But the biggest sport in the world — football has had Iminyela producing some of the best players and personalities the sport has had in the country.
The list of players to come from Iminyela has legendary personalities Majuta Mpofu and Boy Ndlovu, two footballers whose artistry on the field caught the eyes of international figures like Jairzhino and Jomo Sono.
Moonsammy brothers Peter and Victor Moonsammy came from Iminyela. In the early 2000s Ndola United, a social football club was so strong that football legend Barry Daka would often joke that if the Castle Lager Premiership could just be a 35-minute contest the could win the championship.
The players, a majority from the suburb and former Eagles stars, played a high tempo game with methodical build ups and exquisite passing. Dube who broke into the Zimbabwe Young Warriors set up in 1999, reveals that growing up all was cast in stone for him to follow his neighbourhood star Boy Ndlovu.
Ndlovu’s stature was both national and international as he had already earned over 40 caps at all levels for his adopted country Zimbabwe.
“I was born and bred in the same neighbourhood loBoy Ndlovu at Iminyela. We used to train every day in our local grounds before we could even go to White City Stadium for the first team.
“Boy was my role model, I liked his dribbling and I wanted to be like him but before him there was Majuta Mpofu another man who had an impact on us as Iminyela and city youths because of his dribbling abilities,” said Dube.
He was among a group of young players coming in to replace the old guard with the likes of Allen Ndlovu, a brilliant defender who did not realise his potential, Peter Sakala and Ndodana Mhlophe in 1988.
Dube says breaking into the Eagles first team was no walk in the park.
“It was not easy to break into the first team. Remember we had Francis Paketh, Lazarus Mwambopo, Boy Ndlovu, Stanford Ntini, Stoneshead Moyo, Elvis Chiweshe, Simon Ncube, Max Tshuma and Felix Ntuthu and other great players.
“I just could not believe my stars when I was mentioned in the first team for the first time,” said Dube.
Having gone through the arms of Alton Mpofu in the club’s junior ranks and Majuta Mpofu in the senior team, Dube believes he went through the best to be the player he got to be.
Dube started his career with Eagles Under-12s. So good was he that he made the cut for the inclusive Under-18 side for Bulawayo and Matabeleland North in the National Under-18 CocaCola competition which he says exposed him to equally talented players.
The right wing king, was impressive all his junior days that he was called up to the Under-20s. Prior to that he recalls getting hero status at Msitheli High School on a Monday morning when he had scored the winner against Caps United on his debut.
Coming a few years after the class of Farai Moyo, John Sibanda and Dumisani Nyoni had left in 1984, the football DNA now existed at the school.
“Can you imagine I was just in Form Two, and the following Monday after the goal against Brenna Msiska I was the darling of the school. Teachers and fellow pupils were proud of the feat with most having heard from radio commentary while others had read the day’s Chronicle in 1986,” said Dube.
In the national Under-20 side Dube rubbed shoulders with Makwinji Soma-Phiri, Nhlanhla Sithole, Makheyi Nyathi, 1990 joint Soccer Star of the Year George Nechironga, Innocent Rwodzi, Karim Abdul, Ernest Chirambadare, the Mugeyi twins William and Wilfred, Nesbert “Ýabo’’ Saruchera, George Nechironga and Nkululeko Dlodlo.
“I was vice captain of the Under-20s when we won the Cosafa tournament in Botswana in 1989 and after that feat I was snatched up by Black Mambas. I went with Nhlanhla Sithole and found great stars like Masimba Dinyero, Reason Dahwa and we had other Bulawayo boys like John Ncube, Nkosi Maseko and Joseph Dube,” said Dube.
His fortunes at Mambas continued on the up, catching the attention of Jomo Sono and soon he was on the way to South Africa.
However, he played for Wits University FC under John Latham. After an impressive short stint he joined AmaZulu under legendary Clive Barker, Bafana Bafana’s coach in the 1996 triumph on home soil of the Africa Cup of Nations title.
Dube for two consecutive years at Wits was Junior Player of the Year. He also had a chance to play another great coach Romanian Ted Dimitru.
He says most of the coaches he worked under allowed players to express themselves, something that allowed talented dribblers like him to excel.
The crowning moment for his career was when with countryman Ephraim Mwale they beat a Doctor Khumalo led Kaizer Chiefs 2-1 in the final of the CocaCola Cup which today remains the Durban side’s most recent success.
“It was a great feat. I treasure the moment we won as AmaZulu but I also rued not playing under Jomo who had scouted me from Zimbabwe in 1990 because when I arrived at his club he had almost the entire Zambia national team at his club,” said Dube.
Dube has teamed up with former Eagles players, officials and supporters and are keen to tell their story through a book. Another goal is to revive the club starting off with juniors. He regards Boy Ndlovu and Elvis Chiweshe as the best players he watched on the local scene.
Dube was forced into retirement by an injury at the age of 33 while loaned out by AmaZulu to Robertson Callies. He now works as a data capture clerk in Jozi, where he is married with two children.
Online Reporter