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Bush Bucks is the only team Mzunani Mgwigwi ever played for in his club career, having started his career at the club at a young age back in 1993. At the club, he played alongside many great players, including Thabo Mngomeni, Cyril Nzama, Clement Mazibuko
Mara, it’s been donkey’s years since you graced Soccer Laduma’s pages. Where have you been? I’ve been helping young ones through sport, trying to guide them to be able to make the right choices in life. In short, I am coaching in the Eastern Cape. Right now, I’ve just joined Amavarara in the ABC Motsepe League. When Bush Bucks got relegated, I had an injury and didn’t play a number of games that season, even in the play-offs. After that, a whole lot of things happened and I told myself, ‘Okay, thank you very much, God has given me an opportunity to play my part in football. I don’t want anything to do with football.’ But I was persuaded by the club’s former director to help them as they were trying to revive the team, and that was in 2008/09. I then came in as a player-coach. My love for football was revived and I’ve been coaching ever since then. What led to this bitter feeling towards football? There were a lot of things I experienced, not only with Bush Bucks, but with the national teams as well. In our day, there were a lot of problems in football. There was no proper administration. We suffered a whole lot of things because decisions were made, you know, there were contract issues and all that. Like in my case, I had knee problems and paid from my own pocket to have three operations. When we moved from Mthatha to East London, the team had an apartment, with flats and all that. We stayed there and I shared a flat with one of my teammates. People came and went, and I ended up staying alone there. I then called my sisters and brothers to come and stay with me because they were going to university at the time and I wanted the younger ones to go to better schools. There were a lot of arguments (with the club) about it and I said to them, “I’ve been playing for this team. I moved from home to here and you pledged to accommodate me. I’m here and I’m staying with my family.” They said since I was not married, I was supposed to occupy the flat alone, and I said, “No, this is a totally different story. I’m not married, but this is my family. They have to stay with me. What’s the difference?” It was not as if I was staying with my friends. My brother, I can tell you a whole lot! If I can unpack some of the things that were happening at Bush Bucks back in those days, you would cry, hey. Hmmm… They would hide the fax that indicated that Mzunani Mgwigwigwgw hasas beeneen calledcae up too thee national U23 team. But God has been with me all the time and I would get a call
from the national team to say, “Hey,
baba, you were supposed to be here on a particular day. What is happening?” I would respond to say I never heard anything about a call-up. I don’t know how many times I was called up to the national team, but my own manager, whom I won’t mention, never once took care to inform me. But there would be an announcement whenever a foreign player had been called up. Quite interesting, hey… ha, ha, ha. Indeed. Let’s get to the happier times then… I joined the club in the late 80s. I was playing in the youth structures in Ngangelizwe, where I grew up. At a later stage, it was U12, U14, U17 and U19 – I played in all those divisions and I got promoted in 1994, at the age of 16. Actually, I joined Bush Bucksucs earearlierer thanan thata promopromotion.on My y roommates were usually John Mbidzo and Mongi Rula. When Tsepo Ntsoane came to join us, I shared with him, but there were a whole lot in-between. I must tell you, that was a great team. Remember, at that time, I was the youngest and it was very nice to be around those guys. Those were my big brothers. They won the Coca Cola Cup in 1993
teameam was inn thee topop fourour or five.ve Inn thee hist-s
ory of Bush Bucks, the generation of 1992 up to 1998 was up there among the best. All those players were representing their national teams – the Zimbabweans, Malawians, South Africans, etc. We had very nice harmony. Thina we had this thing you called umgalelo (stokvel) and that showed that we were united. I celebrate and cherish those moments. We were very matured about our profession, you know. Guys would play cards in the rooms, while some of us would sit around and watch those playing the cards. We would go to the shopping mall together in our spare time on the day of the game, especially when we were playing in the evening. We would joke around and make fun of each other. Who were the funny guys? Mongezi Malashe comes to mind. But it will depend on your taste. The noisiest one would be Cyril Nzama. There was Mzawuthethi Nogwaza. Mongi Rula was laidback, but he was very funny. He was joyful. If you had time to sit around with him, he would leave you in stitches because of all those funny things he used to do. Shawn Donnelly… he was a troublemaker that one. Even when it was tense, he would just do something to make the environment become healthy. Each and every individual in the team was unique in
his own way. There must be some moments to share. (Starts thinking) Hmmm, is this funny? I don’t know, but I find it funny. I remember we were in East London. I was confronted by the management to say that some of the guys were i ntimidated by my presence. I happened
to t be quiet among the other players and I was one of the senior players at that time. The funny part is that whenever we were camping at Regent Hotel, my room would be full of these guys. They would come in and want to play a different TV channel from the watch I normally watched. Back then I was sharing a room with Marvin Klaasen and sometimes Manelisi Gomoshe, and they would always come into the room and cause havoc, saying they wanted to watch a particular channel. But I always insisted on watching my favourite channel, so anyone sharing a room with me had to watch what I watched. We always had a good laugh about that. That thing ended up going to management, where it was said that I was that intimidating figure among the guys and they were not free around me. It must have come as a surprise to you. I was wondering to myself what was happening because the players were always enjoying themselves in my company. We had the likes of Ninja Mofokeng, Thando Mngomeni, Fischer Kondowe, James Chamanga and others… all those youngsters would come and occupy my room and I never smelt any sign of intimidation in the air. Sometimes they would enjoy themselves so much that I had to tell them, “Hey, go away, go away, I want to sleep!” These guys would bring chocolates and Coca Cola to camp because those were the things we used to enjoy. Whenever we were having supper, they knew what kind of cool drink I liked to drink. I told Sturu Pasiya, “Please call all those guys and bring them here and let’s see if it’s true what you are saying.” When I was told that I didn’t sing in the dressing room, I ended up asking, “Am I getting paid here to sing? Am I a singer or a football player?”
“Mongi Rula was laidback, but he was very funny.”