Online Reporter
Veronica Gwaze, Zimpapers Sports Hub
SHE’S not one to bask in the limelight. In fact, you’re more likely to find her sketching new training drills than giving interviews. But behind some of Zimbabwe’s brightest netball stars is a quiet woman from Tsholotsho, whose influence now stretches across provinces and beyond borders.
Meet Sibonginkosi Dube, a name not always shouted in headlines, but one firmly etched in the country’s netball blueprint.
Born and bred in Tsholotsho, a place known more for its rich culture and football fanatics than netball, Dube’s story began on a dusty school-yard court at Mpindo Primary School, where she also fell in love with engineering, watching electricians at a nearby firm with intense curiosity. That dual passion, sport and systems, would shape the woman she became.
Now based in Chisumbanje, a sleepy south-eastern outpost defined by sugar cane fields and sweltering heat, Dube is quietly building one of the most potent netball nurseries in the country at GreenFuel. And her fingerprints are all over the national team.
Of the 12 players who recently flew the Zimbabwean flag in South Africa at the Telkom Netball League, seven were groomed by Dube. The likes of Thandazile Ndlovu, Faith Mutero, Upenyu Muyambo, Nicole Muzanenhamo and Androlla Munkuli, all under the age of 25, were honed in her system.
Muzanenhamo, a double winner of the People’s Choice Player of the Year, is perhaps the most high-profile, but it’s the method behind the magic that stands out.
“I feel proud realising that I have produced a number of players, who are of national team calibre,” says Dube. “When I took the coaching role at GreenFuel, I promised management I’d build a crowd pulling team to market the brand, but quietly and with a long term view.”
That quiet confidence is vintage Sibonginkosi. While others chase hype, she chases potential, often supported by her husband as she travels from province to province, watching young girls at dusty courts, looking for more than just talent.
“I invest in effort, discipline and commitment,” she says. “Talent without discipline doesn’t get you far in my book.”
Her training schedule is as precise as a circuit board layout. Mondays are for running club. Tuesdays bring strength and conditioning. Wednesdays are for recovery and team bonding. Thursdays drill agility, Fridays host the famed “Netball Addict” sessions, while Saturdays are reserved for recovery. Sundays are sacred rest.
Her players aren’t just fit, they’re mentally drilled, emotionally resilient, and built for the highest levels of the game. And when GreenFuel finished runners-up in the Premier Netball League back-to-back in 2022 and 2023, few were surprised.
It’s easy to see parallels between her coaching approach and her engineering background. For over a decade, Dube worked as an electrical technician for a beverages company, even as she coached netball on the side. Structure, discipline, and problem-solving became second nature.
But a recent health scare forced her to step back from formal employment. “Doctors told me to slow down. So I left my job and focused on my netball coaching and running my electrical consultancy.”
Now 40, she owns and leads a growing electrical enterprise, working on project commissioning while shaping the next generation of netball stars. It’s a balance many struggle to master, but Dube, in her quiet, understated way, has found the rhythm.
For a city like Bulawayo, where sports like football and rugby often dominate the discourse, Dube’s story is a reminder of the depth and diversity of Zimbabwean sporting talent. And for those in Matabeleland, especially young girls in Tsholotsho, Luveve, or Pelandaba who dream of donning the national colours, Dube proves that your journey doesn’t need noise to be powerful.
It needs purpose.
Her legacy isn’t one of fanfare, but foundation. She is not just building teams, she’s building systems, values, and champions.
And in a world loud with egos and quick wins, Sibonginkosi Dube’s soft spoken revolution is exactly the kind of blueprint the game needs.
Bongani Ndlovu