Chronicle Editor
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
There has been continuous debate in the football fraternity on which team between Highlanders and Dynamos was supported by the late Vice-President Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, who died on this day 22 years ago and was interred at the national shrine.
While most, if not all Highlanders’ members and supporters took it as a given that Umdala Wethu was an unapologetic Bosso fan, they were stunned to the core by a story carried in our sister paper Sunday News on June 25, 2017 in which the late Vice-President’s former head of security Nehemiah Nyathi said Dynamos occupied a special place in Father Zimbabwe’s heart.
Nyathi served as part of Dr Nkomo’s security detail from May 1980 until the day he passed away on July 1, 1999.
He said although Dr Nkomo was not all that hooked into football, he would always keep tabs on Dynamos and would at times go watch them playing, in Bulawayo.
“He didn’t love football that much, but I wouldn’t say he hated the sport as well. What I know is that his favourite team was Dynamos. He would always ask us to keep him posted on Dynamos’ fixtures and results. It was part of our duty to keep him updated,” Nyathi told the Sunday News.
The article ignited fierce debate among Highlanders and Dynamos fans and some neutrals, but what was clear is that both sides were shocked by Father Zimbabwe’s Dynamos link.
Some Highlanders’ fans started raising conspiracy theories that perhaps that was the reason their team never won a match whenever Father Zimbabwe was among spectators at Barbourfields Stadium.
Radio personality Ezra “Tshisa” Sibanda insists that Umdala Wethu’s blood was undoubtedly black and white.
Sibanda held a number of on air and off air interviews with the late national icon, whose intervention led to Highlanders and Zimbabwe Saints dropping their tribally-biased names, Matabeleland Highlanders and Mashonaland United, respectively.
The suggestive names had tribal connotations that Highlanders’ supporters were supposed to be from Matabeleland only, while Mashonaland United supporters were from Shona-speaking areas.
That caused tension among supporters of the two teams from the same locality.
Before the Bulawayo derby pitting the two, running battles would start as early as Wednesday ahead of the match on the weekend.
“I still insist, Umdala was never a Dynamos fan, he was Highlanders at heart, but because of his national stature he would never publicly reveal which team he supported. Having been privileged to have a number of interviews with him, I knew he was Highlanders at heart.
“Whenever we had an interview after a Highlanders game, he would ask me how the team played and I remember one day he said the reason he was no longer going to Barbourfields Stadium to watch Highlanders was because ‘bathi ngisinda ithimu’. He said ‘sonke isikhathi ngingangena enkundleni siyadliwa,’ so because of that he decided to stay home and follow the match on radio,” said Sibanda.
According to Nyathi, the late Vice-President might have loved Highlanders, but the passion was not as much as how he loved DeMbare.
What is, however, an undeniable fact is that Father Zimbabwe was a national icon, who might have found it out of order for him to publicly come out and swear allegiance to either of the two most popular teams in the country.
It was only in his heart that such a position was taken.
“The late Vice-President frowned on such vices like tribalism, hence the decision to order Highlanders and Zimbabwe Saints to drop those names because Matabeleland Highlanders clearly meant Bosso was for a certain tribe, which certainly wasn’t the case,” Sibanda said.
Former special assistant to Dr Nkomo and Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Simon Khaya Moyo said the late Father Zimbabwe loved sport with particular inclination to one team.
“Umdala supported all sport including football. He did not support any tribalism or racism to permeate any sport. He was instrumental in ensuring that, for instance, names like Mashonaland United Football Club and Matabeleland Highlanders Football Club are not entertained as the names had tribal connotations. The clubs immediately changed their names to Zimbabwe Saints and Highlanders respectively up to this day. Umdala was a Nation builder in all respects,” he said.
Online Reporter