Sundaymail Editor
Langton Nyakwenda
THE body of the late CAPS United legend, Joe “Kode” Mugabe, is set to arrive in Harare on Sunday, before burial proceedings on Tuesday at Glen Forest, The Sunday Mail has established.
Mugabe, who was part of the historic CAPS United squad of 1996, which won the team’s first championship post-independence, died of cancer in Reading, on August 8.
The football legend was a four-time Soccer Star of the Year finalist before he relocated to England at the turn of the new millennium.
He was a few weeks’ shy of his 53rd birthday, when he passed away.
Mugabe developed a close relationship with former Dynamos skipper, Memory Mucherahowa, despite their teams’ rivalry and their friendship continued when the duo reunited in the United Kingdom.
Mucherahowa is in grief and has described the passing on of Mugabe as one of the worst things to happen in his life.
“Ndopaandisiya apa Kode, at least I have seen you,” Mucherahowa posted on his Facebook wall on Friday morning.
His post was accompanied by a video clip of Mugabe’s casket making its entrance into a funeral parlour in England.
A fearless midfielder, whose aggressiveness belied his pint sized body, Mugabe joined CAPS United as a junior in the 1980s.
He transformed into a fearsome midfielder who had a knack of chipping in with crucial goals for Makepekepe, especially in the 1990s.
He won the CAPS United Player of the Season award in 1993, 1994, 1998 and 2001.
Mugabe was a Soccer Star of the Year finalist in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 2001.
After leaving CAPS United at the end of the 2001 season, Mugabe had a coaching stint at the now defunct Sporting Lions, before he relocated to the United Kingdom.
He was still involved in football at the time of his death, as he was the chairman of the CAPS United Legends UK, a registered organisation that advocates for junior football development in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe is survived by his wife Jennifer and three kids – Irene, Ashley and Alvin.
Online Reporter