TENDAI NDORO DIED A BITTER, LONELY MAN

Blessed Katiyo in JOHANNESBURG

FORMER Zimbabwe international Tendai Ndoro, who was found dead in his apartment on Monday, died a bitter and lonely man.

The ex-Orlando Pirates forward confided in those who were close to him that he felt abandoned by family and friends, especially after his marriage with his wife Thando Maseko, a South African citizen, collapsed.

Ndoro was 40 at the time of his death.

Ironically, he was in the process of trying to rebuild his life at the time of his death.

The messages, which have been passed on to H-Metro, reveal a man who was virtually lonely and who felt isolated.

The late Ndoro (40) was diabetic.

One of the touching messages, to a friend, reads:

“Since I moved into the new apartment (in Sandton) I never had visitors,” wrote Ndoro.

“The divorce thing made me to stay away from a lot of things, rebuilding and taking it slow but surely.”

He added in another message:

“Pain has built me a lot, I fought a silent battle alone, no support from family and friends.”

There were reports that Ndoro registered all his assets in the name of his ex-wife Maseko and she left him a heartbroken and broke man.

At one stage he came back home and even tried to get a contract with Simba Bhora.

However, Ndoro said he did not register all his assets in Maseko’s name.

“To be honest, I want to clear my ex-wife (Maseko)’s name on this. Nothing of that sort happened. I didn’t lose anything, she didn’t take anything,” said Ndoro in a sports podcast interview.

“When things happen, we like to point fingers yet we don’t know what would have happened because with my ex-wife, we had a very peaceful divorce.

“We had assets, it was a matter of take this and I take this. She is clean, she didn’t do anything wrong.”

There have been questions about how Ndoro could afford to stay at the luxurious Barlow Park Lifestyle Estate in the heart of Sandton, which is one of the most expensive areas in the City of Gold if, as has been widely claimed, he was broke?

Last week, Ndoro and a friend had planned to renew their driving licences in Pretoria.

The friend said he was complaining of a nagging headache and nose-bleeding.

That was the last time they chatted.

Phone calls and messages then went unanswered afterwards until the phone switched off.

After almost a week of silence, worried friends then went to his apartment.

Caretakers opened the apartment and his lifeless body was found on the floor.

A postmortem is being carried out to determine the cause of death.

His body is likely to be repatriated to Zimbabwe. Tributes have been pouring in the South African media.

He played for the likes of Mpumalanga Black Aces, Orlando Pirates, Ajax Cape Town and Highlands Park.