Chronicle Editor
Lovemore Dube
THE Hwange suburb of Madumisa or simple put, Number Two Village is synonymous with the game of football.
A great number of football stars from the Colliery came out of the suburb, a stone’s throw from Kamandama scene of the worst mining disaster in the history of Zimbabwe. A record 427 miners drawn from 42 countries perished in the disaster but the community was able to pick the pieces and resolve that life must go on.
Big names of the yesteryear era include Amos Rendo and Twyman Ncube both of whom shone for Wankie FC later renamed Hwange FC. There were several other big names to emerge from the coal dust and ashes laden Madumabisa Stadium, home to many local clubs and talent havens like Sir Humphrey Gibbs Primary School and Wankie Secondary School back in the day.
Among the best talents to come out of the suburb in independent Zimbabwe is none other than former Hwange FC central defender Mebelo Njekwa.
Born on 13 June 1966 in Hwange, he rose to being one of the best ever players to put on the Chipangano jersey. With bioscope, dancing at the community hall, athletics, a bus ride away, football was readily available at the door step. It is no wonder Njekwa rose to stardom as football was part of the daily relish, putting on countless hours to replicate the moves of top local league and Wankie FC guys.
In 1978 Njekwa made it into the Sir Humphrey Gibbs first team playing in defence in a team that had the likes of Roger Sibanda and Lowani Nyathi, both of whom made it into the Hwange first team.
“It was an era of very competitive schools football in which basically all the primary schools’ top players eventually made it into local clubs and Super League outfit Wankie,” said Njekwa.
Talk of peers, St Ignatius had Alberto Kaunda, St George’s Cosmas Ngwenya and Walter Gopo, players who went on to play competitive football in Zimbabwe. Makwika, Lwendulu and Mabinga also had their best stars turning out for Wankie too and Zesa (Hwange) and many more made their mark at various clubs such as Southern Sun and Makasa in Victoria Falls.
Like many of the locals Njekwa moved to the local secondary school in 1980 where he would meet a lot of other talented youngsters yearning to develop to better players and follow the footsteps of Lucky Mwanza, Duly Ncube, David Zulu, Benson Soko, Gideon Zulu, Machona Sibanda, Cephas Sibanda, Chrispen Nyoni and Mubi Muntu, the best of the emerging talent back then from the local league.
Impressive performances for their school with the likes of Sailot Kanyama, Labani Ngoma and Venancio Ncube left their teaching coaches with no option but to introduce them to legendary gaffer Paul Moyo.
Moyo did not hesitate to bring on the youngsters as Hwange were in search of a replacement for the legendary Amos Rendo. Dickson Banda held forte in the centre following Rendo’s retirement at 33 in 1982 but appeared not to get a centre back to match his style and efficiency.
When Venancio and Njekwa arrived, Moyo saw a future in the boys as he would confide to Sunday News later.
“Those boys from Wankie Secondary were cream. I did not hesitate to get them on board and they proved their mettle with hard work and discipline,” said Moyo in an interview in 2004.
Venancio was the first to break into the first team partnering Dick Banda.
“I did bid my time on the sidelines, when one of them got injured I grabbed the opportunity and that was around 1984 and I never looked back and had a great time in that side with a number of my teammates who included Lowani Nyathi, Roger Sibanda, Masauso Mwanza, Sailot Kanyama, Labani Ngoma,” said Njekwa.
Njekwa found a number of players who had done great service like David Khumalo, Isaac Phiri, Barton Mwalukuka, Nyaro Mumba, Rodrick Simwanza, Philemon Nyathi, Chris Piningo, Austin Ncube and Soko a majority of whom were starring at retirement.
Njekwa gave a decade of service to the club which saw him win the Heroes Cup 1-0 over Caps United and another the Castle Cup 3-2 over Cranborne Stars in 1992.
He said he had a number of good players around him but believes he played his best football with Dickson Banda. He is the player he started off with in Hwange colours when Venacio got injured.
“I combined well with Banda. He understood me and I also knew what to do when we were at the centre together. I moved to right back from 1990 until I retired in 1992, but was forced back to the team after some players failed to get passports for the match against Kenyan Breweries under Paul Moyo.
“My best year with Hwange was in 1990 when we finished in the top four in the league race. I enjoyed playing my football for the club where I rubbed shoulders with a number of good players,” said Njekwa.
As a centre back he was good on both the ground and air and with Venacio he got the high balls with his partner doing more of the running.
Some of the players Njekwa played with are Knight Mathe, Adam Hungwe, Sherperd Muradzikwa, Andrew Banda, Fabian Zulu, Chabuka Mwale, Stanley Nkomo, Dumisani Mafikeni, Johannes Tshuma, Isaac Tshuma and Ben Nzelengwe.
A product of the local amateur league where he turned out for Giant Killers, Njekwa said the then Wankie Amateur Football Association provided opportunities for youngsters to pen their skills.
“The local league made us stars. It was competitive. We came as generations from primary schools, through secondary schools up to clubs until we broke into Hwange FC as peers,” said Njekwa.
By his own admission, Njekwa says the dribbling duo of Tanny Banda and Boy Ndlovu who turned out for Eagles and Highlanders FC, were his nemesis.
“They were brilliant dribblers who were hard to contain,” said Njekwa.
After retiring Njekwa has coached at ZPC Kariba, Hwange and the Mighty Warriors and is with Batswana side Molepole City Stars. He is a holder of a Caf A Licence.
Online Reporter