Ben Makadzange speaks on and how he broke an arm!
“DESTINY is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice, and it is a thing to be achieved.”
These are the words of Ben Makadzange who at a tender age had a great desire to turn out for Zimbabwe Saints.
He was born in a “rough” environment where almost every boy that lived in the suburb had to be initiated into drugs and prove that he is man enough. However, he made a choice to avoid drugs and focus on his goal of playing professional soccer. He did and achieved that.
Although he had made a firm decision to avoid drugs at all costs, his parents played their part in that regard.
“My parents played an influential role in moulding my character and due to that I avoided taking drugs and alcohol. My father was a disciplinarian and if ever he saw me in a corner with suspicious boys he would scold me. That really helped me,” he says.
He says they used to call him Bunny, a nickname he earned as he was a fan of reggae star Bunny Wailer.
He says during those days soccer was not paying like now.
“We played soccer satisfaction.”
The 60-year-old launched his football career at Mzilikazi Primary School before he moved to Gloag High School where he played for the school team as a midfielder. While he was in Form Three he joined Manicaland FC, a Division Two outfit and was managed by his father, Fred. He says the outfit was coached by Howard Mavisa who later on mentored Zimbabwe Saints.
The lure of a job forced him to join Meikles FC which was owned by Meikles PLC.
“I was employed as a sales representative and the job was well paying,” he says with a smile.
He remembers that the side was a good team that had good players like Titus Majola, and Boyce Malunga, Teddy Nyoni, Zebron Magorimbo and Joseph Ndlovu.
Legendary Zimbabwe Saints defender, Phelimon Dangarembwa, made his inner- most desire of turning for Zimbabwe Saints, a dream come true.
“He was like a role model to me and he commanded great respect in the suburb. I told him that I have a great desire to turn out for Zimbabwe Saints and he welcomed my idea and facilitated a deal for me in the 1976 season,” he said.
His debut season at the outfit was undoubtedly one of his memorable seasons.
“In 1976 we won the Castle Cup after beating Dynamos 2-1 and that was a great achievement for me. What made it my best game was that my coaches had tasked me to mark Edward Kasvere who was a skilful midfielder and I did that task with distinction. We also hammered Highlanders 4-0 in the Chibuku final,” he recalls.
He says the side had good players in the name of Gibson Homela.
He recalls that Majuta Mpofu who turned out for Highlanders gave him a torrid time.
“When we played Highlanders I had sleepl e s s nights as I was just for fame and social strategising on how to thwart the marauding and skilful Majuta Mpofu.
I knew if I failed to thwart him, we were going to be defeated,” he said.
In 1977 his side proved to be a formidable force to reckon with in the league and they underlined that by winning the PSL title. And that was one of his greatest moments of his career, for sure.
“It is every player’s dream to win the league title and we won it. What made it more interesting is that I was the captain of our team,” he says.
While at the side, he says internal squabbles started to rear their ugly head and that forced him and his mentor Dangarembwa to pack their bags to Olympics FC which was coached by Barry Daka.
At the side he played alongside, Tito Paketh, Fortune Zengeni, Chris Gwangwara, Roland Papaya, Amos Sango, the late Patrick Ncube and Mike Mhlanga who were all from Mzilikazi suburb.
A tight work schedule at NRZ forced him to quit soccer but that was a bitter-sweet decision. As a result, he marks that as his worst memorable down side of his career.
He failed to feature in the final of Rothmans Shield when his side clashed against a good Caps United. That outfit had household names like Shaky Tauro, Joel Shambo, Friday Phiri, Stixy Mutizwa and Stanley Ndunduma.
“I wanted to play against those stars but I could not because of work commitments at NRZ. What made it even worse was that I had received a national team call up but I had to watch the opportunity vanish into thin air,” he says.
What also fuelled his decision to quit soccer was that when he suffered torn ligaments the officials at the side neglected him.
“I was bitter because when I suffered torn ligaments the coaches neglected me and I had to pay for the medical expenses on my own and that pissed me off,” he says with a frown.
He adds: “During our playing days when a player got injured he was neglected and the coaches would look for a replacement as early as possible.” Later on he had to regret ever quitting soccer. “I was involved in an accident that left me without an arm and the company refused to compensate me after having served for 29 years. Due to that I had to retire as a train driver,” he says.
Speaking on juju he says his coaches believed so much in juju.
“When I was the captain of the Zimbabwe Saints on the eve of the match we would bath with juju and smear our feet with oil although at times that gave us luck, but as players we did not fully believe in juju,” he says. He says his favourite football pitch was BF but when they clashed against Highlanders they preferred Luveve stadium. “We believed that at BF they would use juju since a caretaker who worked at BF was their staunch supporter and it was also their home ground and fortress as well,” he says.
He maintains that teams of the 70s and 80s were better than current teams.
“During my playing days there were talented players who made football entertaining and when teams were clashing either at BF or Rufaro the stadiums would be full to capacity by 12 mid-day. Fans got value for their money,” he grins. He worships at United Methodist Church. He is married to Winnie Manyawu and they have three
children.