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ABISAI SHININGAYAMWE (PART 1)

Nicknamed “Zico”, Abisai Shiningayamwe counts himself as one of a number of foreign players to have crossed the border to play for Jomo Cosmos, where he had a decade-long career. It was a decent Ezenkosi stint, even if regular game-time was not provided to him at times. Prior to that, he had turned out for Blue Waters and Civics in his home country, and decided his time between the four white lines was up in 2014. “I had even just signed a three-year contract and I told ‘Bra J’ (Jomo Sono), ‘No, man, let me go see what I can do in Namibia. We had been campaigning in the National First Division for a while, which was rather frustrating, so I told him to give the youngsters a chance while I went back home, and that if things didn’t go according to plan, I could still come back,” the 43-year-old reveals. Shiningayamwe also boasts 22 Namibia national team caps.

Heita, “Zico”. Long dive, no swim, brother.

It has been a very long time indeed, Lunga. I am glad to hear from you.

So, before we proceed with the business of the day so to speak, we gotta ask, since you went into retirement all those years ago, what have you been up to?

Well, since retiring, I came back home. Actually, what prompted me to come back home was the desire to pursue business. When I returned home, I went into civil construction and then, let me say two years ago, I actually ventured into owning a guesthouse. I’m in the hospitality industry now. At the moment, I’m owning and managing a guesthouse in a small town between Windhoek and Walvis Bay, called Usakos. It has always been my passion, though, after football, to be in the hospitality industry.

This must have been inspired by staying in those nice hotels during your playing days.

Yes, ha, ha. That travelling and all these things. I also wanted to do something similar and now I’m doing this, ja. And honestly speaking, it’s 100% just how I imagined it would be. Obviously, also coming from a background of football, and having gotten to know a lot of people over the years, the support base is huge, which is something I’m grateful for.

Where did Jomo Cosmos get you from?

With Cosmos, I was on the books of Civics and we were playing Champions League against ASEC Mimosas here in Windhoek. There’s an agent called Colin April, who’s from Namibia. He and Jomo (Sono) are friends and then Jomo kind of like asked him, “Man, that goalkeeper playing for Civics, how can we get hold of him?” At the time, City Pillars already wanted me. I then went to South Africa after being bought a flight ticket by City Pillars. I arrived in Tzaneen, and that weekend, there was a Mopani Mayor’s Cup taking place and I played for City Pillars, but I had not been registered yet because my international clearance and everything was still in Namibia. Cosmos were also participating in that tournament, and on the Monday just after the tournament, I found myself in Jo’burg. Ha, ha, ha! The late Khwezi (Masondo, ex-Cosmos team manager) and Andrew (Rabutla) were sent by Jomo and, from there, I just found myself in Jo’burg. I don’t even know how it happened. That’s how Bra J did it. With Colin, he had already spoken to the guys in Namibia to get the international clearance and everything, without even me knowing. I was just told by my guys at Civics, “Listen, you are in Jo’burg now and you are going to Jomo Cosmos and that’s it. Forget about City Pillars and stuff.”

Just like that? So, how did you find things at your new club?

To be honest, when I came to Bra J, I never felt far away from home. I was welcomed very well. You know how Bra J is, all his players are like his kids. When you joined the team, everything was made comfortable for you – you had your own place, you had guys ferrying you around. So, I never felt lonely or homesick or anything like that. That’s why I remained loyal… I think I played for him for 10 seasons. There was a time Platinum Stars wanted me, there was a time Golden Arrows wanted me, but I put everything in his hands. I told him, “Bra J, if you want me to go, the offers are coming from these guys, but if you want me to stay, I don’t have a problem.” It was all about loyalty for me.

When you went camping ahead of games, you obviously had to have a roommate…

My roommate most of the time was “Tshawe”, Avril Phali. That was now when he came back from (Orlando) Pirates. Bra J signed me when Phali went to Pirates, and before he came back, I was always with Lazarus Kaimbi, who is also a Namibian player. Eish, you know football… then they decided that because of this thing of witchcraft, let’s put people that play in the same position in the same room every night, ha, ha, ha. So, a goalkeeper could not sleep with a striker… goalkeepers must sleep together, strikers must sleep together, defenders must sleep together, etc. Eish, you know the guys believed in those things there, man, ha, ha, ha.

That’s absolutely crazy and almost unheard of! So, what did they believe would happen if two players playing in different positions shared the same room?

Ah, these guys… apparently players bewitch each other. Apparently some players would wake up with injuries, not even knowing where the injury came from. Things like that. Then they decided the only way to take this thing out, let’s do it positionally – that is, if they play in the same position, they must sleep together.

But does it not make more sense to separate the guys playing in the same position? Because, for example, if I’m a goalkeeper, I have more chance of wanting to ‘bewitch’ another goalkeeper than a striker because that’s the chap I’m fighting for a position in the team with!

You see? Maybe you can injure him while you guys are sleeping, ha, ha, ha. You never know. But these guys believed that no, the goalkeepers must sleep together, defenders together, strikers and midfielders together.

Strange indeed. How was Phali?

The thing about Tshawe… you know he’s a madala (old man). That madala had these stories from the old days and he would want to tell you all those stories the whole night. The one funny thing that I remember about him though… I know he’s going to kill me for this. You know, when he was sleeping and he was in a nightmares kind of a situation, then he would stand up on the bed like he was going to dive. Maybe he thought that he was in goals and stuff! You would just see him, all of a sudden, standing up and making as if he was about to dive, and you would be wondering to yourself, ‘What’s happening with this madala now?’ Eish, he’s going to find me and kill me, ha, ha, ha.

Ha, ha, ha. Maybe the game he was taking part in, in his dreams, was now going to a penalty shootout. Our good friend “Tshawe” was just making sure he was diving in the right direction and that he was not moving from his line before the whistle went, as per the FIFA rules.

Ha, ha, ha, no, man, you are crazy! But yeah, maybe you are right. On a serious note, I think I was lucky to come play for Cosmos when they still had the likes of Christopher Katongo, Sipho Sephadi, (Dikgang) “Terminator” Mabalane, the big boys. It was really good to play with the big boys and those guys mentored us. You were always looking forward to go to training or to make sure you were in the team so that you could play on the weekend. So, it was a nice atmosphere.

Next week, we talk about the crazy characters among those ‘big boys’.

Sure, no problem. You are going to laugh your lungs out.