Online Reporter
GROWING up Gift Lunga (Senior) had so many players to envy as football was part of his Makokoba DNA.
Every youngster played street football and it was common for boys from his neighbourhood to drift to Thorngrove, Mzilikazi and Nguboyenja to play challenge matches as peers using plastic balls or rubber ones known as “amafrido.”
“I lived in the same street with Tanny Banda a dribbling wizard from my neighbourhood who went on to be a big name at Highlanders and Bulawayo Wanderers later to change its name to Eagles. It was a dream come true to be part of the Highlanders team. He was a member of the squad of 1989 when I graduated.
“Next to our house was the home of Doughty Sithole. He was a cult hero at Highlanders before his departure to the US. There was enough motivation for me to take up football as I played it day in, day out in the streets with guys who went on to be big players.
“Up suburb were the Ndlovu brothers Madinda, the late Adam and peer Peter Ndlovu whom I would go on to play with in the Highlanders Under-16s up to the first team and national teams,” said Lunga.
Highlanders had the enigmatic Majuta Mpofu, a marvel to watch on the field with his ball juggling and dribbling skills that used to set Barbourfields Stadium alight, there was a brilliant striker in Lunga’s opinion called Mark Watson, the tricky Madinda Ndlovu, who made things happen and even the aging Tymon Mabaleka was a great watch.
“These were superb players who inspired our generations and it is no surprise a great number of boys made it in football out of admiring these great names. They played with passion,” said Lunga (Senior) who has done Caf B but awaits certification after being affected by Zimbabwe’s ban from the continental body’s coach education programmes in 2018.
Lunga (Senior) said his motivation in the game did not come only from the Bulawayo or Highlanders legends.
He admitted though that Madinda played a role.
“Madinda Ndlovu was massive back then and as young boys playing in the streets, we all tried to play like him. We called ourselves Madinda, such was his impact to us as boys from his neighbourhood but that was not just us in Makokoba, his influence was beyond Bulawayo.
“There were players from Harare like Shaky Tauro and Maronga Nyangela, those were ultimate goalscorers. I admired them and took every detail about how they play and when I was switched from midfield to strikeforce, I tried to use every trick and technique I saw them do on the field,” said the 1994 Premier Soccer League top goalscorer.
Tauro was goalscorers-in-chief for Caps United and the Warriors and is regarded among the best Numbers Nines (9) to emerge in Zimbabwe. He made his impact as soon as he joined Caps United juniors in 1973 and when the team was promoted to elite division in 1977, Tauro was good enough to be part of the national team.
Lunga (Senior) said as they were growing up, football appeared to have a soul.
“Everything was done with passion. We cared less for money or other incentives, we wanted to just play and watching the likes of Madinda, Majuta, Tauro, Nyangela and Watson do their thing on the field was something else. They just made you want to play more football and we obliged by taking to the streets or any empty space of land to play as boys.
“Do the boys of this generation have local heroes, do they have the passion and patience to put so many hours into the game like we did?” asked Lunga (Senior) who added that dynamics around the local game have changed with football facing competition even from other sporting disciplines.
Yesteryear Greats had a profound effect on Lunga (Senior) and glows when he speaks about meeting some of the players he grew up glorifying and loathing like, Madinda and Japhet Mparutsa the late Mercedes Sibanda and Willard Khumalo.
“You can imagine waking up to go and train with legends like Madinda, Willard, Sibanda, Dumisani Nyoni and Peter Nkomo. They were our childhood heroes and meeting and training with them, was unbelievable.
“Growing up Japhet Mparutsa was the best goalkeeper in the land. I admired him and his big aura and one time in the 1990s I was called up to the senior national team and he was our goalkeeper. We went to Mozambique alongside Isaac Riyano whom I had played with in the Highlanders juniors and Shepherd Muradzikwa. I could not believe that I was in the same national team with the great goalkeeper.
It was a great moment of my career,” said Lunga (Senior) whose career took him to Germany in 1995 to play for a regional league team Bonner once the home of Ephraim Chawanda, Henry Mckop and Max Makanza-Lunga.
A language barrier and an injury saw Lunga (Senior) with a goal tally of five goals pack his bags for Zimbabwe.
“Culture and language hit me most. Only Makanza-Lunga in our town spoke English, a bonus being able to converse in SiNdebele since he was from Bulawayo. The defenders in that league used to kick strikers hard and I became a victim after being caught on the hip.
The injury forced me to return home and I never really recovered from that hip/back problem. It forced me to retire from the game in 2000,” said the former hit man nicknamed Di Gong after a bubble-gum music genre of the mid 1990s which was very popular in Bulawayo.
Two championships won in 1990 and 1993 punctuated a colourful career which added several pieces of silverware including the 1990 Zifa Cup, a 3-1 win over Dynamos in a match the late Adam Ndlovu scored a rare final hat-trick.
“I have no qualms with my career, if not for injury I believe I could have achieved more personally and for the clubs that I played for. I achieved what was achievable and coming from Makokoba and bringing the top goalscorers gong and the Soccer Star of Year first runner-up, was a big achievement for the Makokoba Boy where we grew up with people thinking we would turn to crime.
There I was flying to Harare to bring something to encourage kids from my neighbourhood to shun social ills, it felt great being on the podium,” said Lunga (Senior) on Friday as he prepared to go and assist a local Entumbane team assemble juniors’ side for the 2026 Bulawayo Province programme.
Just Who is Gift Lunga (Senior)?
He was born in Bulawayo on 13 March 1972, being the first in a family of five siblings in which two were boys and three girls.
He grew up in Makokoba’s Ninth Street, two away from the famous 11 Street where many Bulawayo stars were groomed or identified at.
Legends like Sithole and Banda (Tanny) played a role in his career, but there is one Zhuwaki Lunga, his maternal uncle who coached Emhlangeni where players like Peter Ndlovu were poached from by Highlanders.
He attended nearby Lotshe Primary School and proceeded to Sobukhazi where at Form One he was drafted into the senior team by coach Maroleng.
Vivian Mushekwa, Nkululeko Dlodlo, Siajbuliso “Malembe” Ndlovu and Makwinji-Soma Phiri were among his teammates at Sobukhazi.
“I made the first team while in Form One playing with senior guys like Makwinji Soma-Phiri, Malembe, Vivian Mushekwa and and the late Nkululeko Dlodlo,” said Lunga (Senior).
He left Mhlangeni for Highlanders Under-16s at the end of 1986 and became a regular in 1987 alongside Peter Ndlovu, Thabani ‘Bigger’ Moyo, Musa Masango, Isaac Riyano, Ian Khumalo and Likhile “Maswi” Sithole.
They were champions Castle Lager Under-16 champions, runners-up in the Bonar Industries Cup and President’s Cup winners.
“We were motivated as youngsters to travel by air to major events under the late Ndumiso Gumede. Towards such cup events nobody wanted to skip training. Ali Dube, the coach got the best out of us,” said Lunga (Senior).
He broke into the first team towards the end of 1989 under coach Roy Barreto who had promoted a big number of juniors, notably the Ndlovu brothers, Thulani Gumede, Thulani Nxumalo, Soma-Phiri and Lunga (Senior).
“My debut match was a 12 minutes of action that yielded a goal in the 9-1 floodlit match won against Gwanda Ramblers in preliminary rounds of the Zifa Cup in 1989. I scored a few goals coming from the bench and I continued to rise and featuring in the competitive first team.
“There were so many strikers to contend with back then, Makwinji, Dumisani Ngulube, Banda, Jerry Sibanda, Adam, Rahman Gumbo and Tobias Mudyambanje, you had to be at your best all the time,” said the former gunslinger who rates his 25 goal-haul of 1994 as the best season return.
He looks back with fond memories of a great past at a great club and wishes the Highlanders family to rally behind new coach Benjani Mwaruwari.
“He is one of us and played for the team’s juniors. He needs all the support to get going and as former players we have a duty to wish each other good when one lands a job,” said Lunga (Senior).
Lunga (Senior) is the father of former Highlanders winger Ray.
He is married with one son and two daughters.
