daniel chigunwe
Tadious Manyepo recently in RUSAPE
GOGO Anna Majarira is having tea while basking in sunshine on this chilly, sunny July Friday at her homestead in Sadziwa Village, Rusape.
A solar-powered radio is providing the sound-track and she occasionally sings along, an indication this is one of her favourite songs. Or it could be because the musician behind it comes from the same district in Maungwe area.
It’s Leonard Zhakata’s “Batai Mazwi”, off his 1996 hit album “Nzombe Huru”.
“Mwana ndakamuyarutsa nemari yemusika uyu, maricho nezvikwereti mumana munoo…,” so goes some of the lyrics she appears eagerly inclined to.
And those lyrics ring true to how she raised her six kids – three girls and as many boys.
The boys have all grown up and they now have their own families.
They have inscribed their names in the history of Zimbabwean football too, as brothers who remained loyal to a team that helped them out of acute poverty.
She is mother to Herentals brothers, Rinos, Blessing and Brighton.
The eldest of the siblings Rinos was only 14 years old when his father passed on in 1997.
Blessing was seven while Brighton was only 18 months old and the two hardly remember how their father looked like.
The father, who was a bus driver, left behind virtually nothing.
“When I listen to this song, some of the lyrics touch me in the heart. They are a reflection of how I raised my children, including the three footballers, who are now an inspiration to many kids in this area,” said Gogo Majarira.
“Their father passed on in 1997 when they were all still very young.
“Rinos was in Form 2 then while Blessing was doing Grade 2. Brighton, who is my last-born was just 18 months old.
“Unlike others in the village, we had no cattle, which is the central element of rural life.
“That meant disaster and I had to be there, playing the role of both a father and a mother.
“I had no any source of income yet all my children had to go to school. So together with all of them, we would occasionally secure contracts to mould bricks for the well-up families.
“We had to do it. My children were still very young but they understood that we had to do it. So during weekends and public holidays, we were always on our toes, moulding bricks.
“That is how I would pay for their school fees…
“We would also use hoes to till our land and scavenge for rotten tree leaves to use in place of manure. I thank God, I managed to raise them.”
Although the brothers, especially Rinos, showed a passion to play football, Gogo Majarira would always limit them for they had to be always “working to feed themselves”.
From the look of things then, none of the trio stood any chance of growing to become a professional footballer.
Even when Rinos secured a job at the Herentals Group of Colleges and Schools during the institution’s infancy as a photographer, leaving Brighton and Blessing back in the village, no one even harboured any thoughts they would eventually become professional players.
Blessing, who is the founding Herentals captain, was still in the village.
He had finished his Ordinary Level at Mbaza Secondary School and was still toiling.
“Of course, growing up with a single parent was very hard. We would work in surrounding farms in exchange for food and school fees.
“And after I finished my Ordinary Level, I became an assistant bricklayer in the village and it wasn’t lucrative,” said Blessing.
“Somehow, I had grown interests in becoming a professional footballer. A certain businessman, Elias Madzara, was buying me football boots and also sponsoring our social team.
“At that time Rinos was already in Harare and he talked to Dr Innocent Benza, the owner of Herentals FC, so that I could assist in building structures for the college in Mabvuku.
“That is how I came to Harare. Still we struggled to make ends meet…”
It was around the same time that Benza, who also hails from Rusape with just one village separating his homestead from the Majariras, decided to form a social team for his workers.
Naturally Rinos and Blessing became part of the team until around 2013 when Benza turned the team professional after acquiring the Bindura United franchise in the Northern Region Division One Soccer League.
Herentals would be promoted into the Premier Soccer League in 2017 with Blessing winning the Soccer Star of the Year accolade, walking away with a Toyota Corolla vehicle, courtesy of the sponsors, Ruyamuro Service Stations.
It was during that same year when The Students were still playing in the First Division that the striker was called into the national team during the COSAFA tournament in South Africa and scored once.
That remains the highlight of his career, looking at where he came from.
The brothers, together with their cousin Archmore, all made their Premiership debut in 2018.
Along the way Blessing had offers from ZPC Kariba and Dynamos which he turned down.
Brighton had inquiries from Chicken Inn but did the same.
The reason?
“I feel we should serve Herentals as much as the team saved us from our desperate situation,” said Brighton.
“This team is part of my life, it is my life and will leave after making very serious considerations….”
Benza, who, at 50, is the oldest professional player in Africa, said the Majariras are close to his heart.
“Their work ethic is second to none. Their honesty, dignity and the like. In addition to being good players, they are good human beings as well,” said Benza.
Back in the village, Ray Sambaza, who saw them growing up, said the boys are reaping the rewards of hardwork and discipline.
“Given their (Majariras) situation, we all thought they would end up doing drugs like some of their colleagues,” said Sambaza.
“But, they were so disciplined and worked so hard to help out their widowed mother. Everyone wishes them well and we are happy to see them flourishing in the league.
“They are now role models and an example of what hard work and discipline can do.”
Online Reporter