adminCultural Heritage Pathisa Nyathi
THE one man that was fond of narrating the early days in the establishment of Highlanders Football Club was Nsele Hlabangana who in the 1990s lived at his son Vana’s house in Morningside. There I used to pay him frequent visits and he would go out of his way to school me on the history of the Ndebele nation in general and Highlanders Football Club in particular.
Nsele Hlabangana, born on 18 September 1909 was together with the two grandsons of King Lobengula Albert and Rhodes, a founder of Southern Rhodesia’s first black soccer outfit Lions Football Club established in 1926. Nsele was himself connected to Ndebele royalty through his sister Hobile who was married to Dabengwa Khumalo, the son of Prince Mhlambi Khumalo, the son of King Lobengula. Prince Mhlambi’s mother was Mfaziwamajaha Mkhwananzi who was married by the king after the earlier marriage of Mbhida Mkhwananzi the mother of the king’s eldest son Nyamande.
Nsele’s father the Reverend Sitshenkwa was a London Missionary Society’s clergy who pastored at Hope Fountain Mission (together with Reverends Neville Jones, Mntompe Khumalo and Zhizho Moyo) and later at Centenary near Figtree among the Esizindeni people where the Reverend David Carnegie also served. Reverend Sitshenkwa attended the LMS institution Tiger Kloof in the Cape, apparently together with some of his own sons.
The formation of Highlanders Football Club is credited to the two royal grandsons who were born in South Africa. Their father Prince Njube was among the four Ndebele royal princes who were born after King Lobengula’s ascension to the throne in 1870. Prince Njube was the oldest of the qualifying princes. The other princes were Nguboyenja (mother was Sitshwapha Ndiweni) and Mphezeni. Apparently, the youngest of them all Prince Sidojiwe (mother was Ngotsha Dlodlo, a brother to Mgandane) was not among those whisked out of the country by Cecil John Rhodes ostensibly to receive western education in the Cape.
Prince Alban Njube was schooled in the Cape Colony and later moved to Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape. He was strictly not allowed to return home just in case the Ndebele monarchy would be resurrected with him as the rallying point. In 1910 Prince Njube died of pneumonia in the Cape and Nyangazonke Ndiweni travelled to the Cape to bury the late prince. Njube’s mother was Mpoliyana Ndiweni a daughter of Mabuyane Ndiweni the chief of Izinala/Izisongo. Nyangazonke’s father Chief Faku was a son of Mabuyane and a sister to Mpoliyana. Prince Njube married Annie Mashiqa Dlamini an Mfengu woman from Sutterheim in the Eastern Cape.
When Prince Njube died his two young sons were looked after by his ailing mother Mpoliyana and the Reverend W Y Stead of St Philip’s Anglican Church. Reverend Stead had been appointed by the Chief Native Commissioner in Southern Rhodesia to safeguard the welfare of the two boys. The two boys grew up together with Reverend Stead’s own son William Henry who was in later years to become a native commissioner in Southern Rhodesia. Rhodes attended High School before proceeding to Andrew Mayake.
Rhodes was later to proceed to St Matthew’s College in Keiskammahoek where he completed Junior Certificate in 1921. He was to matriculate from Lovedale after which he attended Fort Hare where he qualified as a teacher. Rhodes met and married longtime partner Nombina Kawa from Sterkspruit. The couple had five children. The family settled on a farm at Gosforth, Peddie, allocated to them by the Rhodesian government.
Rhodes’ widow had difficulty raising the children alone following death by drowning in a river of their father. As a result Rhodes’ widow took her children with her to live at the Fingo Location in Grahamstown. The family lived at Number 56 B Street and continued to get financial support from St Philip’s Anglican Church. Sizwe Mda, a descendant of Rhodes has created the King Lobengula Foundation which is canvassing for the reburial of Prince Njube’s remains in Zimbabwe, more specifically at Entumbane alongside his grandfather King Mzilikazi and his brothers Sidojiwe and Nguboyenja.
It was Rhodes’ educational background that exposed him to soccer as this was not a sport among his people, the Ndebele. According to Nsele, Rhodes used to visit Southern Rhodesia and during his visits he got to know about the precious stones buried at the supposed grave of his grandfather at Pashu. Rhodes helped himself to the diamonds which he sold to sponsor the establishment of Lions Football Club in 1926.
Nsele Hlabangana was among the founders of Lions Club and knew its early history and the role played by Rhodes and his elder brother Albert. Nsele tells that the club was created out of boredom. Lions Club was in existence from its inception in 1926 till 1937 when it underwent some transformation. In fact, Nsele Hlabangana did confirm that he personally cycled to Pashu in 1937 to get a bit of the treasure to aid Highlanders.
In that year it became Matabeleland Highlanders and was to adopt new colours of black and white under the banner of Matabeleland Highlanders. It was during this period that it adopted the slogan “Siyinqaba”, meaning we are steadfast, united and strong or simply we are a castle, a slogan also adopted by Mbabane Highlanders of Swaziland. Incidentally, Orlando Pirates established in 1937 also adopted the black and white colours and shouted the slogan “Siyinqaba” although not formally adopted as a written down slogan (by Lovemore Dube and Jabulani Fuyane in www.siyinqaba.net).
There is another distinct development in the history of Matabeleland Highlanders Football Club when the nationalist movement was split by the Rhodesian Special Branch in 1963. From that year till 1974 Matabeleland Highlanders Football Club adopted slogans such as “Tshilamoya”, “iBosso”, “Kayisoze yabulawa”, “Ongafuniyo Kayekele”, “iBosso yiBosso”: and “iHighlander Ngenkani”. It seems the team and its supporters felt some threat to the team’s continued existence.
It was such seemingly unifying and defiant slogans that kept the team together and weathered the divisive storms that threatened the royal soccer outfit.
The club transformed further following the American-initiated Détente exercise which saw the release from restriction of nationalist leaders Joshua Nkomo of Zap and Ndabaningi Sithole of Zanu and their senior officials. Nkomo was not happy with names that connoted tribal affiliation. Under his instigation Matabeleland Highlanders Football Club dropped ‘‘Matabeleland’’ and became simply Highlanders Football Club that has existed to this day. Equally, Mashonaland Football Club also of Bulawayo changed its name to become Zimbabwe Saints, popularly known as “Chikwata”.
It may have been the desire to create a decoy at Pashu that led to the deposition of diamonds in the grave to convince potential pursuers that the grave was indeed the final resting place of King Lobengula. Little did those who crafted the plan know that their act would one day sponsor the establishment of a soccer outfit that has defied all odds and exists to this day. Highlanders Football Club shall for as long as it lives be associated with Ndebele royalty and the supposed final resting place of the last Ndebele monarch where diamonds intended to convince the king’s pursuers would sponsor a future soccer outfit.
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