adminWHEN the 1989 Soccer Star of the Year, Masimba Dinyero, was recently mugged and lost cash and a cellphone to thugs, we were all shocked.
A well-known and loved figure, the football legend’s case made headlines, as it should.
He was not the only one mugged that night when armed robbers, who were using a kombi to lure victims, struck.
They met their fate last week and they all had their hands and legs tied and were blindfolded as the robbers went about their business.
Then, they were stripped naked and abandoned to their fate in the cold of the night.
It was quite a traumatic experience as knives were pointed at their necks with the robbers threatening them with death should they try to resist.
We carried the tale of their ordeal in this newspaper last week and we gave it the prominence that it deserves.
It made front page news.
Dinyero also made the right decision when he opened up on the attack as well as filing a police report.
His plight touched the hearts of many and a new organisation, US Again, decided to act and compensate him.
The team, led by former Sunday Mail Sports Editor Makomborero Mutimukulu bought a new Samsung phone for Dinyero to replace the one which the armed robbers took.
They also reimbursed him the cash which he lost that night.
This is the kind of spirit that we need as Zimbabweans when one of us gets into trouble.
What happened to Dinyero, and his fellow victims that night, can happen to any one of us.
No one can claim that he is clever and will never find himself at the mercy of such heartless people like armed robbers.
If it doesn’t happen to you, when you are trying to catch a lift back home, it could happen to you in your very home.
These criminals can pounce, even at fortresses, and find a way to torment families and rob them of their valuables.
Those who are mocking Dinyero, flooding social media with sickening jokes that he should not be catching public transport home but, instead, should have a car of his own, are mistaken.
It’s a fact that Dinyero played virtually all his career at a time when the domestic game was not paying its stars anything of real value.
He played for Black Mambas, a police team which is not the best paying club in the domestic Premiership.
He also played for Blackpool and Dynamos and we know that he wasn’t paid anything good enough for him to invest into something significant.
Even if he was paid a lot of money, who knows where he invested it?
Maybe, he invested it in real estate, bought a stand and built a house for his family, which is more important than buying a car..
Those who have come to support him have shown real love and deserve the credit they are getting.
They have shown that we are a people who, generally, have good hearts.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter