DAVID MAKGALE ON SIKHWIVHILU

“Mulondo was focused. If I’m not mistaken, he acquired a tertiary qualification, one of the few players of his generation to do so. I’m not sure what he’s doing now, but I know he was a team manager at some NFD team a few years back, and if a club owner can trust you enough to make you a manager at his team, it means he sees something in you. He and Christopher Netshidzivhe are the ones who welcomed me to Venda and showed me places after I joined Black Leopards. He was also a jolly, funny guy. And he used to believe in muti a lot, ha, ha, ha. But, hey, that Venda, orata monate (loves the nice time). He used to party a lot. He would party until late into the night. He used to hang around with Netshidzivhe, Hlompho Kekana, Jabu Maluleke and Sibusiso Dlamini. What often surprised me was that Kekana was not drinking, but he would hang around these guys at these places until very late! Mulondo was the mastermind of the group. If you heard a hooter outside your place in the early hours of the morning, you just had to know it was him. He’d call you at ungodly hours, and if you didn’t answer your phone, he’d drive to your place, ha, ha, ha. And don’t ever make the mistake of thinking he’d just come in, greet and leave… he’d literally camp in your lounge, drinking, until the sun came out. I remember we were fighting relegation at one stage, and as a way of motivating the players, Bra Dey (David Thidiela, club boss) said he’d be giving us R10 000 win bonuses each. That was only for those who’d started, plus the substitutes. However, as players, we considered that unfair to the other players who were in camp with us and provided us with support from up in the stands, so we came to an agreement that we’d each fork out a certain percentage of our bonuses, like R2 000 each, put the money in one basket and give it to those guys. So, we played Thanda Royal Zulu and won. After the match, Mulondo was collecting the money from the guys. When he got to Fischer Kondowe, the Malawian guy refused, saying he came to South Africa to work and not to hand out money! This then led to a situation where the other guys also refused, but Mulondo spoke some sense to the guys. That’s how he was. He was generous. But he and Netshidzivhe, eish, I don’t know how many children they made in Venda, ha, ha, ha. They were the terrible twins! Strangely, they used to fight a lot. Whenever they started speaking their home language, we knew a fight was about to start. Apart from that, he was a good guy.”