Wither ‘Msholozi’?

Simba Dube Sports Reporter
WHEN the Highlanders head coach Bongani Mafu came up with the 30-man squad for the 2015 football season campaign in mid-February, everything started to fall apart for the club’s former captain Innocent Mapuranga. Mapuranga’s story in 2015 is narrated in a sorry mode, hopping from one club to the other in search of a new home either on loan or permanent basis.

As it stands, it seems there is no fuel left in the tank for the 38-year-old defender who has found it an uphill task to lure any club for his defensive services.
He is just not on any Premiership side’s radar.

Although he still has a running contract with Bosso which ends in June, Msholozi as Mapuranga is affectionately known, has lost favour with the current Highlanders gaffer Bongani Mafu who is not keen to extend the former skipper’s stay at the club considering that he initially didn’t make it to the club’s final squad.

Though, Mapuranga has not yet hinted on throwing in the towel yet, retirement is just something around the corner for the team’s 2011 Player of the Year.
His stint at Bosso dates way back to 2009, joining the club at an advanced age of 32. He had a deeper role at Highlanders and that prolonged his stay at the club.

During his time, he led a great defensive line but now in his absence, steeliness somehow lacks in the heart of Highlanders defence as the club has conceded about three goals in five matches played in the 2015 version of the PSL.
His firmness in the heart of defence inspired the moniker “Durawall”.

But sadly, “time flies and nothing is eternal”.
Now, the aged pair of legs seem to be tiring, yearning for rest, as was evident during a couple of defensive mix-ups he was involved in; mistakes which were profitable to the opponent strikers.

His aging body, coupled with a hectic calendar, has of late made it difficult for him to be at par with his counterparts, resulting in his performance being slow and predictable.

Put simply in the marketing matrix, Mapuranga has reached saturation point and for those who know the product life-cycle, the next stage is decline.
In the previous season he had been probably one of the oldest players in the Premiership together with Dynamos’ Murape Murape who was redeployed at the club as the coach of juniors earlier this year.

Already holding a Zifa Level Two coaching certificate, Mapuranga might just consider pursuing a coaching career.
In the previous year, the player, who is keen to be in action, pointed out that he would like to develop young talent at the club.

“I want to be involved with the development of junior players at Highlanders when my playing days come to an end,” said Mapuranga.
Playing in the same manner as Mapuranga is Felix Chindungwe, the current Bosso skipper whose arrival at the club was so as to plug leakages in the defence and also as a potential replacement for the defender whose future at the club was on the verge of ending.

His stay at Highlanders has not only been useful, but fruitful.
Mapuranga was a 2012 Footballer of the Year finalist alongside his then teammates Mthulisi Maphosa, goalkeeper Ariel Sibanda and runner up Masimba Mambare.

In 2011 Mapuranga dominated the club’s awards picking up the Player of the Year and Most Consistent Player of the Year awards.
The years that the former Railstars player has been on Highlanders books can be said to be phenomenal for him, as they saw him earning his first national team call up at the age of 35 in 2012 in a friendly match against Zambia.

If it so happens that his stay at Highlanders won’t be extended, the Highlanders technical department won’t be blamed for the decision considering that the player has passed his sell-by date.

Although he was part of last season’s Highlanders defence which was rated second-best after Dynamos as it had just conceded 14 goals in 22 games in the league race, at the end of the season he failed to help the club climb the podium of success.