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Bukhosi Mangena Sports Correspondent
THE family of Highlanders’ founder member Prince Rhodes Njube Khumalo based in South Africa has agreed to send a delegation to represent the Ndebele royal lineage at the club’s 90th anniversary celebrations.
The Bosso@90 celebrations will officially kick-off on Sunday.
Highlanders’ chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede, who was part of the club’s 13-member delegation that visited Khumalo’s grave in Grahamstown in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province during a five-day tour, said they received a positive response when they engaged the family about the proposed visit.
“They treated us well and when we told them about our plans to have them as part of our anniversary celebrations, they were amazed and promised that they were going to send a delegation to represent them,” said Gumede.
“They may not be playing any part in the club now, but we need their blessings because they have the blood of the club’s founder and having them grace the event is as good as having Rhodes himself.”
Rhodes and Albert Khumalo, grandsons of King Lobengula, formed Highlanders in 1926 with boys from Bulawayo’s oldest high density suburb comprising the bulk of the team.
Among those that travelled to Grahamstown were newly elected club vice-chairman Modern Ngwenya, Chief Nyangazonke of Kezi and Peter Zwidekalanga Khumalo, a descendant of King Lobengula.
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