adminHe made mistakes here and there but also did a lot of good things for his club and chances were high that one day he would lead Tshilamoya as its chairman. However, after losing the secretary’s post to Horace Ndubiwa, he briefly remained in football before making a disappearance from public life, only to reappear as a political spin-doctor for a political party.
For Nhlanhla Bahlangene Dube, the two are not so far apart.
He is now the spokesperson for MDC-N.
Chronicle Senior Sports Reporter Sikhumbuzo Moyo (SM) talks to him (NBD)
SM: You were known as Nhlanhla Dube but now there is Bahlangene, what happened?
NBD: I have always been Nhlanhla Bahlangene Dube from birth. My grandfather named me Bahlangene and always called me by that name while my parents named me Nhlanhla and it turned out to be a prophetic name because I became the only son in a family of five.
While I was at Highlanders Football Club I was referred to simply as Nhlanhla Dube but when I left office various other Nhlanhla Dubes emerged within the membership and they would be quoted in the press leading people to think that it was this Nhlanhla who had spoken, also because I generally attend all the club’s meetings and continue to actively contribute in debates it was necessary to insist on the use of both my names to set my brand apart from the other members who shared the shorter version of my name.
SM: Just tell us who is Nhlanhla Bahlangene Dube?
NBD: I am from Filabusi and was born at Wanezi Mission Hospital in Malole/Gwatemba. Ngalokho, I am proudly uGodlwayo Omnyama.
SM: You were a fierce football administrator with Bosso and a promising one indeed and now a political spin doctor. Why did you move to politics?
NBD: Thank you for the compliment with regards to my role in football administration. Let me say that I learnt so much at and through Highlanders in particular and football generally and will always remain indebted to the club for entrusting a mammoth task of leadership on a young person as I was then. I obviously remain a Highlanders fan and son through and through forever wishing them well in all they do.
I do not regard football administration too differently from my role in political life now.
My understanding of the roles I play in community work which is what football was and is at least at Highlanders and in politics, is that we are in these spaces as servants of our fellow citizens. In my view politics is mainly focused on the distribution of available resources within communities and ultimately the nation at large and making sure that this is done in a fair and just manner for the good of all citizens.
This is the primary role of politics i.e. who gets what, when and how. I am a student of political science and administration and as such do not feel that there is anything strange in my involvement in national politics.
SM: Any chance of Nhlanhla coming back into football?
NBD: That I might yet again be involved in football administration is an ever present reality. I believe that everything has a season and my life in politics is not a permanent one. Because politics is a vocation my time to exit the stage will come ngoba vele kusinwa kudedelwana.
The knowledge that I have accumulated in football administration will always be there to be used for the good of our community and nation at any given time and I believe that time will come. My current role in politics is communication and this is something I truly love doing and having done a lot of communicating on behalf of
Highlanders I feel at home in these shoes.
I have had the good fortune of rubbing shoulders with a diversity of great people in my life who have all contributed to the passion I have for both football administration and politics.
While I might not be able to name them all, in football Ndumiso Gumede inspired and encouraged me to attend football administration courses and to read football statutes, Madinda Ndlovu spent lots of time walking me through the science of football, skill/player identification and team building.
Kennedy Ndebele, the late James Mangwana-Tshuma and many others. Then of course there were the Bosso fans who inspired me with their passion and just looking at what they would do for the club transformed my attitude and passion and I never wanted to disappoint them.
In politics I was inspired by the works of Machiavelli, Karl Marx, and Sun Tsu. I also was greatly inspired by my many teachers and lecturers in my home area of
Malole/Gwatemba especially Professors Jonathan Moyo, Eldred Masunungure and the late Masipula Sithole. My grandparents were active members of Zapu therefore the politics of the liberation struggle, black emancipation anti-colonialism/imperialism and racial subjugation from the Zapu perspective had a major bearing in my thoughts. My late uncle Kingsley Dinga Dube had a very profound effect on my decision to finally become actively involved in party politics.
SM: Some say you joined politics out of desperation, your response to that?
NBD: I would not understand why if I was desperate I would then join politics? Those in the know will tell you that political work is voluntary with absolutely no salary or financial gain and political parties are not wealthy entities and as such only a moron would be desperate enough to seek relief
I joined the political party I am in because more than anything else it believes as I do that we can as a people chart a destiny free from corruption and all ‘isms that weigh down on social, economic and human development and national progress.
That all Zimbabweans are equal and all efforts must be made to promote and celebrate our equality as diverse as we are in peace. That as Zimbabweans we must preserve, respect and celebrate all of our history in its entirety and think Zimbabwe first in all we do.
SM: Thank you Dube for your time,
NBD: Thank you once again, I hope I have been candid enough.
Online Reporter