A tribute to Tymon Mabaleka

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LEGENDARY Highlanders Football Club, Zimbabwe attacking midfielder and music producer par excellence Tymon Mabaleka departed from this world last Friday morning after complaining of fever.

LEGENDARY Highlanders Football Club, Zimbabwe attacking midfielder and music producer par excellence Tymon Mabaleka  departed from this world last Friday morning after complaining of fever.

He was rushed to Harare’s Avenues Clinic by his loving wife Josephine, but sadly we lost him.

A hero is gone — gone for good — but never to be forgotten for he was a great man, a charismatic human being, a charming friendly person, a man with a special good sense of humour who loved life and all living things.

Growing up as a child I loved listening to soccer commentaries on radio especially games involving Bosso, so it was my dream to meet some of the big names I heard on radio,   Mabaleka, Majuta Mpofu, Earnest Maphepha Sibanda, Titus Majola, Mark Watson to name a few, got me inspired to play the sport. 

l used to imitate the commentators while playing soccer barefooted with my friends pretending to be one these great guys. I could feel it in me that one day I would be like them, don the black and white colours of Tshilamoya and my name would always be on radio.

Oh yes, radio was the most powerful medium by then while TV, in black and white, mainly owned by the rich families and ZBC by then never showed football on the screens.

I had no idea how my idols looked like and it was my imagination that they were people who were very important, untouchable and larger than life characters who could tell a mountain to move and it will.

I played on the game till l enrolled at high school and became one of the best players in the Bulawayo region.

I always had the belief that my dream team Highlanders would finally snatch me after the Highlanders juniors coach Ali Baba Dube had earlier in my high school days rejected me and told me he didn’t trust young boys from Mpopoma, the township l grew up in.

It was now destined Eagles FC, one of the then Bulawayo enterprising teams. I trained for a few weeks while doing A levels and looking for a brighter future as a footballer. 

Things took a twist when ZBC’s Sam Mkhithika invited me to come to Montrose Studios for auditions as a radio and TV presenter after he spotted me during high school debates at the Large City Hall in Bulawayo.

The rest is history, I was posted to Harare to attend a broadcasting and journalism in-house training course.

I didn’t know whether to be excited or to be scared as l felt l was going to a foreign land since l had never been to Harare before, let alone speak the language spoken there.

On getting to Harare l was accommodated by a white couple that I had met before in Bulawayo while they were visiting their family and friends.

Accommodation was now sorted for me and all what was left was to find someone who could speak iSiNdebele with me, little did l know somebody was listening to my first shows on radio and that person was  Mabaleka.

The next thing I received a call while I was live on radio and this person says to me: “nguMabaleka okhulumayo unjani Tshisa?” On questioning who Mabaleka was, the man said “ngumaMabaleka oweBosso.”

I couldn’t believe it. I was filled with emotions and excitement disbelieving that the person I adored so much as a footballer and my role model that had disappeared from football was talking to me on the phone. He told me he worked in music as a producer with ZMC and he produced the music I was playing on the radio.

On that particular shift l was featuring the music of Solomon S’kuza from the album Love&Scandals. From that day I became a happy man knowing that I have a brother in Harare and after all, there was someone who could understand me and give me guidance as a young man who appeared lost and lonely in the wilderness and fast life of the Sunshine City.

Mabaleka finally came to Mbare studios to see me. He took me to ZMC studios, showed me around Harare and introduced me to staff at his company telling them l was his younger brother.

From that day the relationship grew stronger and stronger that everyone thought we were blood brothers. As a devoted Christian and a full Adventist church member he advised me on principles and values of life, the good and the bad of being a popular person and how to conduct myself at all times as a public figure.

He was my biggest critic always telling me off when l said something bad on radio and always keeping me on my toes helping me to improve every time.

He monitored all my shows and he was one of the reasons why and how the brand name Ezra Tshisa Sibanda dominated the airwaves winning accolades and award after award for broadcasting excellence in the ’90s.

Death of an icon The Whitehorse is gone people of Zimbabwe, ubhudas kasekho, uMabaleka sesibalekele njengebizo lakhe (the brother is gone. Mabaleka has run away like his name). Mabaleka has been timed out of us.

He was born 64 years ago and was the second born in a family of nine, made up of six boys and three girls. Mabaleka was born in Nswazi in Umzingwane district and attended Lozikeyi Primary School in Bulawayo. He attended Mpopoma High school and later moved to Mzilikazi High School. 

He left behind wife Josephine and three children, one who remains incarcerated in prison for a homicide case and sadly he won’t attend his father’s funeral. 

But how did he come out to be such a football icon? Mabaleka began his illustrious career at Contex and Eastlands FC in the late ’60s before moving to Highlanders in 1973. That season is considered as the turning point for the once docile giant in semi-professional football. 

Bosso who had been promoted back to the elite league after topping the lower division in 1972 following their demotion in 1971, relied on the brilliance of players like the young Mabaleka to assert themselves as one of Zimbabwe’s top sides.

In 1972, a British export joined the side, Tony McIlveen, from Northern Ireland. Tony had previous experience playing semi-professionally for Irish League side Crusaders. While not known for his height like Mabaleka and company, McIlveen’s tenacity as a midfield dynamo was an added bonus to the vastly improving side. 

The super Highlanders team that included Ananias Dube, Billy Sibanda, Kenny Ngulube, Edward Dzowa, Andrew Jele, Tommy Masuku, Lawrence Phiri, Josiah Nxumalo, Geoffrey Mpofu, Boet Van As, Gavin Dubely, Bruce Grobbelaar, Barry Daka, Cavin Duberly, Kenny Luphahla, Peter  Bhebhe, Mike Mpofu,   McIlveen  and others with the midfield maestro Mabaleka, formed a triumvirate that inspired Highlanders to regional championship and Chibuku Trophy in 1973 beating high-profile Mangula at Rufaro Stadium and clinched the honours.

In 1976 Highlanders got dissatisfied with the national administration led by John Madzima and pulled out of the Rhodesisn National Football League (RNFL) and formed the South Zone Soccer League (SZSL).

Some disgruntled senior members of the team broke away from Highlanders to form their own club Olympics. They even took the black and white strip as their uniform, but Highlanders and Mabaleka survived. He never deserted the club or ran away from it like his name, but became opposite of what traitors do. 

The disgruntled players including Barry Daka, Itai Chiedza, Peter Zimuto, Isaac Mafaro and others left to form Olympics, but Whitehorse, as Mabaleka was affectionately known, remained fully committedly, because Bosso was his blood his club for life.

He was a key figure of the South Zone Select when Highlanders opted to form the SZSL. The teams that formed the nucleus of the SZSL were Black Chiefs, Callies, Portuguese, Old Miltonians and Highlanders (all from Bulawayo.), Black Horrors (Plumtree), Ramblers (Gwanda), and Go Beer Rovers (Gwelo). 

In 1979 most Harare-based clubs saw the wisdom of Mabaleka’s Highlanders decision and lent their support to the club against the injustices of the national association, ie unfair gate takings distribution, improper methods of accounting of finances and that certain teams were being favoured.

The National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) was then formed as a result. In 1980 NPSL and the RNFL were merged to form Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) and Mabaleka was still married to Bosso. Mabaleka was the symbol of footballing excellence for a whole generation.

There were other magnificent players, including Phiri, Majola and Majuta at Highlanders, but the mercurial Matabeleland son was on a pedestal of his own.

“Genius” is a term so chronically overused in conjunction with sport that it is in danger of being comprehensively devalued. It should be rationed scrupulously, reserved for the truly sublime rather than being squandered on the merely remarkable.

However, there should be no hesitation in dusting down the “G” word for a rare fitting recipient, and such a man was Mabaleka.

Operating alongside fellow top-class footballers in Ephraim Moloi, James Nxumalo and others, Mabaleka was incandescent, a magical manipulator of a football and an entertainer supreme with his ball control and distribution.

Positioned nominally just behind the strikers, but roaming at will, he was capable of going past opponent after opponent, able and frequently eager to make brutal assailants look like clumsy buffoons, and he was as clinical a finisher as any in the land.

Much is made of his heavenly fusion of skill and power, balance and timing, which made him sometimes virtually uncontrollable in the middle of the park.

In addition, though, Mabaleka was immensely brave and during his footballing career attained a resilient strength and an unshakeable self-belief, which enabled him to laugh in the face of the vicious physical punishment to which he was routinely subjected to.

To enhance his worth still further, he was mentally acute, which allowed him to apply his instinctive flair to maximum advantage.

In short, in a footballing sense he was flawless, possessing the assets to excel in any role and retired without even a single red card in his career. What a player!

Tribute from fellow pros A former teammate at Highlanders Phiri now based in Gaborone, Botswana, was at loss of words on the news of the death of Bosso legend and friend. “Honestly it has come as a shock to me. I still can’t believe that it’s true,” he said.

Cosmas Zulu who played with him at Eastlands described him as a gentleman who understood his teammates. “He was a gentleman on the field and off it, if you erred he would correct you in a humane and sporting manner.

Chest control, heading and volleys were his trademark features on the field. My condolences to the family,” an emotional Tsano said.

Mabaleka’s former chairman at Highlanders, Ndumiso Gumede, now the Bosso chief executive officer sings praises of the great son of Bosso.

“He was an excellent player on and off the field of play and had an excellent personality. He was always in the thick of things in the midfield at Highlanders, but I don’t remember any day he ever got a red card and that is one of the reasons he was known as the Whitehorse,” Gumede added.

“Were it not for people like him, Highlanders could not have been what it is today. As the Highlanders family, we are deeply saddened by this. My family and his family used to go to the same Seventh Day Adventist Church in Harare where he had moved to after being promoted by Gramma Records”.

Highlanders legend and former team mate Douglas British Mloyi who worked also in music with the Whitehorse said: “Tymon was a humble person and he was always jovial. He was a sociable guy and even though we were younger than him it was as though we were of the same age. He got me a job at Gallo Records.” Mloyi added “In terms of football, Tymon was good and he was a skilful player who was technically gifted. He was good with headers,” 

Former Highlanders manager and chairman Maphepha Sibanda who played alongside Mabaleka said: “Mabalekawas a great player, an icon and above all a true example of a complete footballer with skills, vision and leadership which has been difficult to emulate by the new generation of players.”

Mabaleka was into Highlanders and music what the sun and stars are to humanity,  a necessity to humankind. He was an entertainer on the field long before sportsmen became celebrities. He was a working-class hero in the most working-class world sport, continually sticking his fin.

He has left unanswered questions behind him. How great might have become if he was given a chance to play in Europe for great clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool, Real Madrid,  Barcelona, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, among others.

Mabaleka is no more, yes it’s so — so painful, but it doesn’t matter anymore, he has left a lasting legacy!

For almost two decades of high energy football, Mabaleka gave untold pleasure to countless fans all over the country, created so much that was beautiful and left a hoard of deathless memories.

To my departed brother, Mabaleka, hopefully you are reading this from the other side of the world, you life gave us memories too beautiful to forget. l will cherish the memories of the times we spent together and you will ever remain on my mind. Hamba kahle qhawe lakithi, lala ngokuthula (go well national hero, rest in peace).

Whitehorse, rest in peace in God’s arms and goodbye son of the soil.

 Ezra Tshisa Sibanda is a broadcast journalist, political and social commentator.