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A VERY PROUD FAMILY . . . Lloyd Chitembwe (left) and his wife Pelagia (right) join their daughters as they pose with the Castle Lager Premiership trophy at their Chitungwiza home this week. — Picture by Paul Mundandi

Paul Mundandi Sports Reporter
LLOYD CHITEMBWE’S wife Pelagia is proud of her husband’s achievements in becoming the first CAPS United son to lead the Green Machine to the Premiership title as a coach.

The former Warriors’ midfielder, who is CAPS United’s most decorated son, guided the Green Machine to their first league title in 11 years this season.

“I praise the Lord, I am excited for the players who also showed faith and played for him, the fans for rallying behind my beloved husband, Mr (Farai) Jere (club president) for employing Lloyd and showing faith in him, my family for praying and being with him in good and bad times, Gogo Chitembwe for her support and everyone else who supported my husband from the first day until now,” said Pelagia.

“I hope the support and love will continue.

“We feel blessed as a family. I was used to seeing him winning the championship as a player but this time we are highly honoured as he won the trophy as a coach and he has now joined the elite club.”

But it was not all plain sailing for the family.

“I remember the days when he lost, he would hardly eat for two days, morale would be very low at home and he would only start having meals on Wednesday,” said Pelagia.

“He also hardly spoke and would spend most of his time glued to the television, watching the games he once played for CAPS and the national team and he rarely slept. When he drew with Hwange, our daughters were touched as they thought that fans would come and remove his tongue. They had said ‘tirikuda rurimi rwaLodza’ and that brought fear to our children as they thought their dad would be killed for losing two points to Hwange.”

The Chitembwes are members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Chitungwiza.

“If he is playing away, he phones the youngest girl, enquiring if we went to church. If we miss the service, we have to give a detailed explanation as to why,” said Pelagia.

“If he is around, I normally board the car when he has already moved about 30 or more metres from the house because he is very time conscious.

“Even when I am going to work, it’s the same story. He is never late for training and I am not so sure what happens to his players when they are late. One thing about him is that he is a very loving and caring husband. At times people ask me if he doesn’t beat me up at home and I laugh it off. He is very humble and caring but he is a perfectionist. He can sweep the yard. He cleans the cars and he can spend an hour or more cleaning the car.

“At home he always changes the set-up in the bedroom and he really takes his time. The inside of the house, especially the walls, have been changed so many times. We enjoy his meals and he is good at preparing stir fry after a victory. The radio volume will be high and he will be playing Macheso, Jah Prayzah and Tocky music.

“We always brace for noise if he wins and he is one person who loves gardening, taking care of the lawn and he doesn’t want to see sand on the walkway.

“He is very particular about his fashion, about what he wears and everyone is now used to that. We can’t take anything away from my husband but one thing for sure is he loves CAPS United and the family and every November he takes us out for a holiday.”

How did the two meet?

“I was staying in Unit A and he was in Unit B. I was a good volleyball player and one day he came to our school with Kingstone Onyimo, my classmate who was also a good soccer player,” said Pelagia.

“He proposed and we dated for six years from 1991 and tied the knot in 1997. We are very African and humble.”

They have two daughters.

“I am just happy that he has matured. His attitude has changed and I attribute that to maturity and also the belief in the Almighty God. The Press has also been good to him this season and I would like to applaud all the reporters and editors,” said Pelagia.

“If anything negative is written about him, we really get affected as a family and even at work everyone will be talking about it and at times you end up feeling very bad.

“My husband turned down offers from Botswana and Tanzania because he doesn’t want to leave his family behind.

“During the mid-season he turned a number of clubs down as he felt that he would win the championship with CAPS United and opted to stay at the club even though he wasn’t getting regular payments of his monthly salary.

“He has foreseen a number of things and at times he acts like a prophet. We have never suffered as a family because Mr Jere is always there for us.”