Chronicle Editor
HE may not have made a name in the Zimbabwe Premiership but Dumaza Dube has been a go-to guy in terms of an honest opinion about football and a bright prospect in the juniors.
He has had no tolerance for age cheating as it stunts the growth of the individual while denying the rightful aged kids the chance to play.
Dube carved a name for himself in junior talent development with Cement Primary School, Bantu, and Highlanders juniors.
He will be remembered for taking an Under-15 team to the 2009 Youth Olympics in Singapore whose players went on to be household names on the local scene. For what he did not achieve as a top-notch striker, he made up for it with a great contribution to junior development by coaching some of the country’s best players of the past two decades among them the Ngodzo brothers, Petros, Zephaniah and Joel at Cement Primary School. But as a player, Dube helped brand college and university football in the 1990s as the top striker of the all-conquering Bondolfi Teachers’ Training College team and Masvingo Province.
“I was recruited into one of the greatest college teams, our main rivals were the University of Zimbabwe, Masvingo Teachers’ College and Masvingo Polytechnic. Great players were recruited, these were Taurai Mangwiro, Lloyd Hlahla, Kalonga Sithole, Daniel Nhundu, Kwangwari brothers Ernest and Joe, Maxwell Chambarara, Isaac Malunga, Governor Phiri, Michael Masimbe, the list is endless. We can spend the whole day talking about the college rivalry which was big.
“The first President of Zimbabwe Canaan Banana was responsible for the University of Zimbabwe team while a Mr Tavagadza was in charge of Bondolfi,” said Dube.
Bondolfi were always in the final with UZ and Harare Polytechnic. He said the quality of the game was very high and it is not surprising that some of the players went on to make names for themselves in the Premiership. UZ had players like Nkululeko Malaba who played for Black Rhinos and Dynamos’ Tauya Murewa and Harare Polytechnic boasted of Air Zimbabwe Jets star Erasmus Chauke.
There were other very good players who made it to the Premiership and Division One leagues who were by then not as popular in the college and varsity competitions. Dube said Harare Polytechnic had several players turning out for Lovemore Msindo’s Fire Batteries. “Harare Poly and UZ were engaged in fierce rivalry to qualify for the finals in most instances against us and some of the matches would be played at neutral venues like Chivhu and Mashava’s Gaths Mine,” said Dube.
The highlight of his college career was guiding the team to the colleges and universities regional gold medal in Malawi when he led the attack with Joe Kwangwari and Chambarara, two players who went on to play Premiership football.
Both turned out for Masvingo while Dube joined Highlanders in 1997 scoring in his debut against Chapungu in a match drawn 3-3 where he led the attack with Louis Kutinyu and Kelvin Kaindu.
Perhaps an opportunity for institutions to tap the talent leaving high school on scholarship needs to be considered. Success in sports raises the brand visibility of the college and provides stuff for bragging rights when former students meet in life after. His career came to an end that same year because of injuries and he chose to stick to coaching and started training kids at Cement outside Bulawayo which would result in a number of stars emerging to play in the Castle Lager League in Zimbabwe with the Ngodzo brothers, Njabulo Nyoni, Ntokozo Tshuma, Moodley and Simon Njeleza among some of his products.
Dube was later to join the Highlanders juniors where he worked with the likes of Melusi Sibanda, Danny Ngwenya and Smart Moyo.
Among some of the top players they coached were the Moyo twins, Elvis and Kelvin, Teenage Hadebe, Marvelous Nakamba and Kudakwashe Mahachi. At the formation of the Bantu Rovers Academy, Dube came on board and was instrumental in talent identification and a number of players he coached at Highlanders followed him.
Born at Mbembeswana Clinic in Kezi to Mussolini Ndiweni and Octavia Nzana Dube, on 3 August 1967 Dumaza attended the local school and came to the City of Bulawayo to do Grade Five in 1978 after schools in the rural areas had been closed because of the armed struggle.
Upon arriving in Bulawayo, he found himself in the lower division school teams at Induba under renowned legendary schools’ soccer coach Gabriel Mlilo who died last year. At Induba he had Allan Ndlovu and played against the likes of East Rovers’ Oscar Ncube and Melusi Nkiwane of Ingwegwe when he moved to Babambeni of Pumula among a generation of talented players.
For his secondary school education Dube went to Magwegwe Secondary School.
“There were some talented players we played against at that level among them Dumisani Nyoni, Garikai Rwodzi, Collet Dube, Allan Ndlovu who were at Msitheli and Sobukhazi’s John Maseko and Dumisani Ngulube when we played in the Dunlop Trophy,” said Dumaza. Dube’s Magwegwe Secondary School had Kenneth Phuthi and Silas Zimbiri. Phuthi played for Chapungu while Zimbiri played for Zimbabwe Saints.
After impressive performances in schools soccer, Dube was recruited to the Zimbabwe Saints juniors by Jani Gwede.
“I met a lot of talented players there, Agent Sawu, Nation Dube, Norman Gumbo who was our captain, Ben Nzelengwe, Obey Sova, the Rwodzi brothers Innocent, Garikai and Zenzo and John Sibanda,” said Dumaza.
When Gibson Homela moved to Archer Stars in 1986 he took Dumaza along as one of his strikers with Paul Kaviza, a brother to former Saints winger Peter. Dube went on to play for Ingwebu Stars United of Esigodini and Border Strikers as a much sought-after striker in the lower divisions.
He had the physique and heart to take on the big defenders. It was while turning out for Stars in 1993 that they clashed with then well-funded by the Khan Family, Kismet United of Masvingo.
“I had a great game that afternoon and at the end of the match the Masvingo visitors asked me if I had five Ordinary Level passes. Luckily I had, that is how I came to join Kismet and Bondolfi Teacher’s College,” said Dumaza.
The former big striker said Bondolfi was able to stand its ground in college football because a majority of the Kismet players were students there.
Dumaza had a good 1996 season for both college and Kismet and at the end of the year Madinda Ndlovu fought hard to have him transferred from Tshongogwe where he had been posted as a fresh college graduate to Bulawayo so that he could play for Highlanders.
Dumaza rates taking Highlanders Under-15s to an international tournament in Durban in 2008 as one of his highlights at Bosso where they played against teams from Turkey, France, Namibia, South Korea and United States of America.
Crack Turkey side Galatasaray took its juniors there. A father of two, a boy Brian and daughter Mbali, Dumaza is teaching in Namibia.
Online Reporter