Chronicle Editor
Sikhumbuzo Moyo
A dark cloud has engulfed Hwange following the death of the iconic figure, Charles Nyoni, popularly known as Big Charlie in the coal mining town.
Nyoni, who was set to celebrate his 60th birthday next month, passed on at St Patrick’s Hospital in Empumalanga on Tuesday morning, having been admitted last Thursday.
According to his sister and family spokesperson Ms Susan Ndlovu, Big Charlie has been a high blood pressure and sugar diabetes patient for a long time.
“He was ferried to hospital on Thursday night last week and has been in hospital since then. We were hopeful that he would make it out but it was never to be. He breathed his last this morning and we are devastated as a family,” said Ms Ndlovu.
Born as the firstborn in a family of eight siblings, Big Charlie has left behind his mother and seven siblings, three boys and four girls.
“We are still to meet as a family to discuss funeral arrangements but for now mourners will be gathered at his house at A 52 Lwendulu Village,” said Ms Ndlovu.
Towering at over 2.1 metres, weighing 300 kilogrammes and wearing a shoe size 22, Nyoni was by any standards a huge man, 41 centimetres shorter than the tallest man in the world, Turkey’s Sultan Kosen.
Big Charlie would have a big teapot of tea for breakfast while for lunch or dinner, he would devour a full chicken in one sitting while he would also eat the insides of a goat in a single day and the rest of the meat was dealt with in three days
For many years, many residents in Hwange thought his surname was Gumbo because everyone called him Charles “Gumbo” unbeknown to them that it was in reference to his big feet.
Big Charlie was retrenched in 2012 by the Hwange Colliery Company where he worked as a builder and refuse collector.
Legend has it that during his time at the Colliery, while his workmates would carry a 50kg bag of cement in pairs, Big Charlie would easily carry four 50kg bags at one go
His condition was known as gigantic acromegaly, a rare disorder caused by high levels of growth hormone.
Online Reporter