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Charles Mabika Special Correspondent
“JOMPANO” is a slang term which means “tough”. And that is the nickname that new Dynamos’ head coach, Herbert Maruwa, got at an early age from his fans because he was a no-nonsense defender in the first team at Nyamutumbu Primary School in Murehwa.
The 46-year-old Maruwa was appointed the new Dynamos’ technical bench’s head following the non-renewal of Tonderai “Stanza” Ndiraya’s contract at the end of last year. Ndiraya, a former Glamour Boys’ attacking midfielder, has found a new home at ambitious and top-flight debutant Shamva-based side, Simba Bhora, as their new head coach.
And the new Dynamos’ gaffer Maruwa revealed, in an exclusive interview with The Herald, that he was aware that his new post is the “toughest and hottest” football seat in the land and hopes that his tough stance when he barricaded moves by opposing strikers at primary and secondary school and beyond will assist him and his troops to regain the majority of bragging rights that were dominant from the 60s up until the initial years of the new turn of the millennium for the club’s multitude of fans.
“I’m grateful to the club’s board, executive and stakeholders for putting their trust in me to steer this popular ship back to its swaggering course. I’m also aware that the Dynamos’ fans have been used to winning everything on offer. That’s why I’m pleading with them to be united and rally behind this big institution so that we can start to build our bridges for success in the new season.
“I would also like to wish ‘Stanza’ (Ndiraya) all the best at his new base (at Simba Bhora) and look forward to locking horns with his side when the new season starts,” said Maruwa.
But many of the Glamour Boys followers don’t really know who Maruwa is and where he came from.
“I was born at Mavhurume Village in Murehwa and was later brought to Chitungwiza as a toddler where my parents had their second home. I attended Seke Matevere School from Grade One up to Grade Four. Then I returned to our rural home and enrolled at Nyamutumbu Primary School from Grade Five to Grade Seven and then continued at the same school’s secondary wing for my farther academics.
“It was at Nyamutumbu where I excelled at the heart of the first team’s defence whilst in Grade Five that resulted in my colleagues and fans christening me “Jompano” because of my resilience as the rearguard’s marshal. And that nickname has stuck with me up to this day,” he chuckled.
“After completing my ‘O’ Levels in 1994, I moved back to my folks in Chitungwiza and was involved in action for a few Area Zone sides before scouts from a company based in the capital’s light industrial sites (Mono Pumps) offered me employment through my football abilities and I trained to become a qualified pneumatic technician there.” From there, “Jompano’s” journey turned out to be a nomadic and adventurous one up to him being appointed as Dynamos’ head coach at the beginning of this year.
“My boyhood dream was to one day play for the Dynamos’ first team but sadly that did not materialise,” he said with a chuckle.
The athletic-built mentor would feature for Mono Pumps in the Area Zone on a Saturday and 24 hours later marshal the Arcadia United defence in Division Two.
“I learnt quite a lot from then Arcadia player/coach and former Warriors midfielder, David Zulu, as I had set my sights on turning out in the top-flight,” said “Jompano”.
“My late father (Newton), who was a seasoned senior coach and ZIFA instructor and was also a close friend of Warriors coaches, the late Reinhard Fabisch and Gibson Homela and ex-Warriors’ youth coach, Nelson Matongorere, was another big influence in my football life and always kept close tabs on my career,” revealed Maruwa. He spent the next decade playing for numerous lower division sides before his Dad advised him to try his hand at coaching at the early age of 31. In 2008, he applied for a position with the Dynamos’ juniors’ department which was then headed by their former legendary midfielder, Elvis “Chuchu” Chiweshe, and he was accepted.
“I couldn’t believe that I had joined my boyhood favourite club and would like to pay tribute to “Chuchu” for showing me the ropes of junior development. It was a magnificent tenure that I underwent there. I also got priceless assistance from other juniors’ coaches who were former DeMbare greats — Ndiraya, the late Kenneth “Computer” Jere, Simon “Hot Property” Chuma, Samson “Whizz Kid” Choruwa and Norman Mutongi.
“I still have fond memories of tutoring players who later became first team regulars at the club like Partson Jaure, Wisdom Mutasa, Leeroy Murape and Emmanuel Mandiranga,” recalled Maruwa.
“Then in 2011 after Lloyd “Samaita” Mutasa had taken over as head coach from Chiweshe, my dream world flourish as he promoted me to the senior team’s backroom staff to assist Ndiraya and Ralph Kawondera (Snr) who were his first and second assistant coaches respectively.
“When “Samaita” left the club in the same mid-season and Callisto “Manabhunu” Pasuwa took over, we won our first league title after a four-year wait when David “Yogi” Mandigora had masterminded a great run that also qualified the team into the CAF African Champions’ League semi-finals a year later.
“I will, forever, be indebted to Mutasa and Pasuwa who showed me “the real deal” in coaching at the highest level and encouraged me countless times about coaching in the top-flight.
“Under “Manabhunu,” we went on to win the league crown for three more successive seasons. From the time I joined this great club in 2008 up to 2014, they sponsored my CAF licence programmes from Level One to Class A.
“And in 2015, I felt that I needed my own great and personal challenge and the club’s leadership amicably let me try and test my acquired knowledge. When forrmer Monomotapa head coach, Rodwell Dhlakama, invited me to be his assistant at Eastern Region Division One side Hartley FC, I didn’t hesitate. At the end of that season we narrowly lost out on promotion into the Premiership to Yadah FC.
“Dhlakama and I then crossed the border to Eswatini where I once again assisted him at a club called Green Mamba which was fighting relegation. But, oh, my word, what a disastrous start it was because we lost our first six games to worsen their woes and unfortunately Dhlakama was shown the exit door and the club invited me to take over.
“I refused (their offer), pointing out to them that I couldn’t take up the post because Dhlakama had recruited me. But like the professional that he will always be, Dhlakama advised to me take up the post and continue with my journey. I eventually agreed and in my first game in charge against one of Green Mamba’s fiercest rivals, Seagulls FC, I led the team to a rousing 7-0 win. “That match remains as one of my most memorable victories in my coaching career. We also burst into the final of the country’s premier knock-out tournament, the Swazi Bank Cup, where we unfortunately lost 2-1 to giants Mbabane Highlanders and we also reached the semi-finals of the Ingwenyama Cup and also survived relegation.”
But a personal tragedy would halt Maruwa’s brightening candle after his mother passed away back home in Zimbabwe in December 2015. He left Swaziland to attend to his family’s needs and arrived back at Green Mamba two weeks after his due restart schedule and the executive couldn’t understand his plight and they sacked him.
Just a week later, he was scooped up by ambitious Division One side, Mbababe Citizens, whom he led to a blistering 13-match unbeaten run and cemented their status as automatic favourites into the top-flight football in Eswatini. Sadly, the team failed to honour their financial obligations and “Jompano” resigned and retuned home to Zimbabwe. He was immediately offered the head coach’s position at army side Black Rhinos whom he led to seventh position in his first year during the 2017 season. He left the side after a five-year stay plagued by the Covid-19 pandemic in-between and had a short stint at Harare City as Taurai “Bla Jack” Mangwiro’s assistant as the club fought relegation last season. Sadly, the “Sunshine Boys” failed in their quest to stay up and Maruwa left.
Unsurprisingly, Maruwa’s heart was always with his beloved DeMbare all those years and when he applied for the vacant positon after Ndiraya’s contract’s non-renewal towards the end of last year, he was “over the moon” after getting the nod ahead of many other aspirants.
Today he heads a technical crew that also includes former Yadah FC head coach Genesis “Kaka” Mang’ombe (first assistant coach), the club’s legend Murape “Monya For Hire” Murape (second assistant coach), Lloyd “MaBlanyo” Chigowe (juniors head coach), manager and the club’s former right winger Richard “Nyoka” Chihoro and fitness trainer Vincent “Mr Vee” Chabwana. The club off-loaded 13 players at the start of the year and have since signed on Eli Elunga, Keith Madhera (both ex-Black Rhinos), twins Elvis and Kevin Moyo, Arthur Musiiwa (all ex-Bulawayo Chiefs), Nyasha Chintuli (ex-Manica Diamonds) and Emmanuel Ziwocha (Harare City). And Maruwa, whose favourite team overseas is English giants Liverpool, knows that like “The Reds” fans, the DeMbare followers will still want to win everything on offer with this new-look array of stars.
“Our pre-season training got off to a flying start and the boys are raring to go. One of my major goals is to rejuvenate our junior development policy. We also have to live up to this giant institution’s long tradition of success and if you ask me for my motto, I will readily tell you that “when the going gets tough, the tough gets going.” I lived up to that nickname from my early footballing days in Murehwa and I will definitely give this new job a gigantic haul,” declared “Jompano”.
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