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“That’s when panic crept in, we were all on our phones trying to call our three teammates but all the time the calls were going to voicemail. The worst part was when we finally realised it was them, when the fire brigade took the bodies from the car, we saw everything – our friends and teammates had been burnt beyond recognition, it was like a scene from a horror movie.”
Sharuko On Saturday
THERE was an eerie calmness to their stillness, itself a false picture of the brutal fight, drenched in futility, which they had fought.
In a way, this was the perfect picture of the silence of the lambs.
In their lifelessness, everything was quiet, itself a false picture of the raging inferno, which had consumed their young lives, and crushed their wives.
In a way, the haunting silence gave us the perfect yet disturbing rendition of the sound one hears only when doves cry.
The wreckage of the car told the whole story.
The tale of a horrific accident, which had seen this car explode into a fireball, on impact, consuming both the vehicle and its five occupants.
The charred bodies, trapped inside, provided the human component, and cost, of a disaster so devastating, it must have even drawn tears from Satan himself.
They had been so close to home, which is what even hurt the most.
They had passed Norton, which means they were just about 30km or so from Harare, the final leg of a journey, which had taken them from Bulawayo.
Some villagers heard the explosion at impact, when the car crashed into the rails at the Hunyani River Bridge, and rushed out of their homes to try and help.
However, even their brave, and best efforts, were not enough.
And, as fate would have it, their teammates were the ones who had to endure the agony of being among the first witnesses to this disaster.
It was a brutal examination of their emotions, provoking so many questions about life, about fate, about heaven, about hell, about joy and about sorrow.
In a way this was hell, right there, in front of them.
In that moment, their eyes, and their brains, went into full conflict, unable to agree that all the images these vital organs were processing, were real.
That this wasn’t all a bad dream, the English call it a nightmare, and soon it would be over, everyone would wake up and realise they had been sleeping.
Why?
Gary Mashoko wasn’t even supposed to be in Bulawayo.
After all, he was injured and had not been selected for the league game against Njube Sundowns, which was only the second match of that campaign.
That’s why he wasn’t on the team bus when it left for the City of Kings.
He wasn’t on the team bus, too, when it left the City of Kings, after the match.
Gary had travelled in a car which belonged to a die-hard CAPS United fan who, to the majority of the players, had become a good friend.
There was another person, in that car, who was another loyal Green Machine fan.
Blessing Makunike had just come back from Serbia and, having missed the entire pre-season, it would not have been a surprise if he had not made the travelling party.
But, he was so good that pre-season training wasn’t a factor in determining whether or not he should feature, on the domestic front.
He was still in the team bus, when it left the City of Kings, for the trip back home.
For some strange reasons, Shingi Arlon was nicknamed “Madhimoni” and, for all the ugly, and evil attachment to that nickname, he didn’t seem to care about it.
After all, his goals would always do the talking. Along the way, Shingi and Blessing left the team bus and joined Gary, and the two fans, in the car, with the five guys having scheduled to go to a Thomas “Mukanya” Mapfumo gig, in Harare, that night.
At the Hunyani River Bridge, their journey ended.
It was also where CAPS United players became witnesses to the moment the lives of their teammates were cruelly taken away.
“We could see a car burning and we were told we could only pass after all had been cleared,” Cephas Chimedza told this newspaper.
“We got out of the bus, walked to the scene but never realised it was the car (in which their teammates had been travelling) until one guy, who tried to pull out the people from the car, came to us and said there were people who were still alive in the back of the car.
“He told us when they tried to pull them out, before the fire spread to their part of the car, they managed to pull out only a jacket, and its colour was like the ones which we were wearing.
“That’s when panic crept in, we were all on our phones trying to call our three teammates but all the time the calls were going to voicemail.
“The worst part was when we finally realised it was them, when the fire brigade took the bodies from the car, we saw everything – our friends and teammates had been burnt beyond recognition, it was like a scene from a horror movie.”
EVERYONE LOVED YOGO
By the time the night gave way to day, the nation was grieving, united by its painful loss, tormented by how it had all unfolded, weighed down by its exploding emotions.
Everyone was CAPS United.
And, in a way, CAPS United represented everyone.
There was something about Yogo Yogo, which made him very likeable, even among fans of opposition clubs, in a way which was quite unique.
Maybe, it was because of his model good looks, maybe, it was because he was a good footballer and, maybe, because he wasn’t controversial.
At the beginning of the 2004 season, CAPS United had become quite ordinary, and were struggling to find a path back to the glory days of ’96, when they won the championship in style.
In ’97, they had fought long and hard, to try and defend their title, only to run into a fine and resilient Dynamos side, which comfortably won the title, with the Green Machine finishing second.
No one can begrudge that group of Glamour Boys their success because, as they showed the following year, when they became the second best team in Africa, they were just a class apart.
But, if CAPS had fought bravely in ’97, their standards slipped quite considerably, in the ‘98/’99 season.
Although records show they finished fourth, the grim statistics show they finished 23 points behind champions Highlanders.
During the 2000 season, Makepekepe slipped into sixth place and, with 56 points, they were 22 points adrift of champions Bosso.
The following season, CAPS finished seventh, with 49 points, 13 points behind champions Highlanders while in 2002, they finished eighth, a massive 31 points behind champions Bosso.
In 2003, they finished fourth, nine points behind champions Amazulu.
Some would have celebrated it as a sign of both improvement and promise, but something provided a brutal reminder that the picture was not entirely rosy.
Ten losses, in 26 league games, representing a loss after every 2.6 games, and winning just 38.46 percent of their matches, didn’t project an entirely good image of a team in good health.
Something had to change.
CAPS United opened the season with a bang, after an impressive 3-1 win over Black Rhinos, ahead of their trip to the City of Kings, for the date against Sundowns. With nine minutes to go, in that match, Wonder Ngoko scored the insurance goal, to give them a 2-0 lead, which effectively secured the points.
David Sengu, incredibly prolific in that opening phase of the season, had powered them into the lead, in the 55th minute, after a tight and goalless opening half.
Isaac Nyausaru would pull a consolation for Sundowns, one of just 19 goals, which the CAPS defence would let in all season, in the league.
Two games, two wins, five goals scored, just two conceded, this was an impressive start for Charles Mhlauri and his men.
As they celebrated with their fans, after securing that win in Bulawayo, itself the home of their coach, little did they know everything would change, in a few hours’ time. That, Yogo Yogo and Madhimoni, who had played big roles in that win, and Gary, who had provided morale support from the stands, would be dead.
Incredibly, it came during a golden age of football.
Two months earlier, we had played our first match at the AFCON finals, losing 1-2 to Egypt in Sfax, Tunisia, with Peter Ndlovu, the greatest Warrior of all-time, fittingly, on target for us.
A month earlier, on February 3, 2004, we had secured our first victory, at the AFCON finals, with a 2-1 win over Algeria, in Sousse, Tunisia.
Adam Ndlovu, one of the greatest Warriors of all-time, was on target in that victory.
Ironically, just like Yogo Yogo, Shingi and Arlon, Adamski would also meet his death, in cruel fashion, in a road accident, just a few kilometres from Victoria Falls.
Just like Yogo, Shingi and Arlon, his fateful road trip had started in Bulawayo and occurred just on the fringes of his destination.
Yogo and Adamski knew each other well. They had shared the Warriors dressing room, during their careers, in which they had risen to be part of the best of the best, who can be called upon to represent their country.
Both are no longer with us now but their legacy, as icons, at both CAPS United and Highlanders, is quite secure.
In May 2004, just two months after we lost the three CAPS stars, and their two fans, Arsenal — the club religiously supported by the Green Machine president, Farai Jere — also made history.
They became the first English top-flight club to complete the entire league season unbeaten after winning 26 and drawing 12 of their 38 league matches.
The Gunners matched the feat of Preston North End, who also finished unbeaten, during the 1888/1889 English top-flight league season.
As fate would have it and, in a way, as if they were being inspired by the memory of the three teammates they lost in that horror accident, the CAPS United Class of 2004, broke a number of records.
Somehow, they found a way to complete the entire season without losing an away match, as if they were on a mission not to betray the spirit of their teammates, who had perished while coming from an away fixture.
That’s 15 games played by that CAPS team, on the road, no game lost, they won 13 and drew two, with just Lancashire Steel, in a 0-0 draw in Kwekwe, and Motor Action, in a 1-1 draw in Harare, providing the resistance.
FROM A DISTANCE, THEY WILL BE WATCHING
Somehow, and it’s something I have struggled to understand, all these years, that Makepekepe side appeared to be ruthless, whenever they played in Bulawayo, during that landmark season.
I have resisted the temptation to believe that, whenever they were in the City of Kings, they would feel the presence of the teammates they lost, in their first visit there, during that campaign.
The Green Machine hammered champions Amazulu 4-1, on their first return to Bulawayo, after the tragedy in which Yogo, Gary and Shingi were killed.
Leonard Tsipa scored a hat-trick in that match.
He would score twice, in their next match in the City of Kings, including an 89th minute penalty, in the 3-3 draw, which remains a classic match in the Premiership.
It’s a measure of the beauty of that match that, even though it was brought to a premature ending, abandoned after Tsipa scored the equaliser, its legacy is not defined by the chaos.
It is defined by what unfolded on the pitch — Ralph Matema scoring twice, Manase Mwanza also on target and CAPS United roaring back to steal a point.
But, if that showdown was a classic, what followed in Harare, a week later, was vintage stuff.
Was it probably the best league match played on the domestic scene since the turn of the millennium?
Probably so, it’s hard to find a better one.
Okay, the records show that it ended 4-3 in favour of Bosso and CAPS United lost their first, and only league match, during that campaign.
But, it was more than the score, it was the quality of the football which was played, the drama, including a goal from goalkeeper Tapuwa Kapini and the see-saw nature of the battle.
By the end of the 180 minutes, spread over two weeks, 13 goals had been scored, at an average of 6.5 goals per game, between the two rivals, as the Battle of the Cities was born.
In a way, it was a befitting tribute, to the boys who were lost in that accident, from the two clubs. One representing the city, from where the journey of these three boys had started, the other representing the club, which these boys played for.
Watching the two titanic battles, from heaven, should have made the three boys proud that their efforts, to try and add value to domestic football, had not gone in vain.
This was the top entertainment they swore to provide to the fans of this game, when they started their journey to become professional footballers.
They played their part, entertained us, and now their teammates were doing their part, keeping the flame burning, in a way which was as impressive as it was seductive.
This week, we marked the 18th anniversary of the year when fate hit us with such cruelty we are yet to recover when we lost our Three Musketeers.
Somehow, the football gods made sure the club, which represents football in Bulawayo like no other team has done, or will ever do, had to come to town, for a duel with Makepekepe.
Highlanders are in the capital this weekend for a showdown against CAPS United.
It’s as if the football gods are telling us don’t forget Yogo, don’t forget Adamski, don’t forget Shingi and don’t forget Gary.
It’s like they are telling us that, no matter what has happened, since we lost them under those tragic circumstances, we should never forget that they will always be a big part of us.
A big part of our football, a big part of our traditional big clubs, a big part of our history and a big part of our national game’s future.
Their names alone should inspire the next generation of our footballers because these fallen heroes played the game the way it should be played.
Adamski was good enough to even have trials at Manchester United and, if he had gone there today, they would not even subject him to trials.
He would walk straight into the team because any side which fields a flop like Harry Maguire and pays a fortune to get Jadon Sancho cannot subject Adamski to the humiliation of trials. Our hero rests today in his hometown of Bulawayo and Yogo rests today in his hometown of Mutare.
One gets a feeling they will be watching us, from heaven, when the Battle of the Cities explodes tomorrow.
We owe their spirits a good match.
It’s the least we can do for them — 10 years after Adam died, 18 years after Yogo died.
To God Be The Glory!
Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton, Daily Service, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and all the Chakariboys still in the struggle.
Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ronaldoooooooooooooooooooooo!
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