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Peter opens up on life
By Grace Chingoma
AFTER two decades as a player, former Zimbabwe captain Peter Ndlovu has seen enough in the jungles of European and African football and believes it is time for upcoming players to learn from the good, the bad and the ugly that his generation may have come across in the sport.
Ndlovu — the most decorated Warrior with 100 caps and a record of having led the senior team to two African Cup of Nations appearances that sandwiched Cosafa Castle Cup success — now wants to devote most of his time to teaching the youth and helping mould their careers.
Zifa chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya has also welcomed the appointment of Ndlovu and his former Warriors teammate Edzai Kasinauyo as Volkswagen football ambassadors to Zimbabwe.
Rushwaya said she was touched to note that Ndlovu took time to give Kaizer Chiefs teenage sensation Knowledge Musona some tips on the game and the pitfalls that might befall the 19-year old striker just before the former Aces Youth Academy striker made his Warriors debut in Durban.
"Peter and Edzai who are the VW ambassadors for junior football were in Durban to support the Warriors.
"It was great to see Peter taking time to talk to Knowledge and give him advice, after all he has all the experience and he believes Musona can scale greater heights’’ Rushwaya said.
Ironically, Musona, being touted as the next Peter Ndlovu illuminated the night on his Warriors debut in an international friendly against South Africa’s Bafana Bafana at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
Although the Warriors crumbled in the second half to slump to a 3-0 defeat, Musona had given Bafana Bafana defenders a torrid time with his pace and skill, he was easily the best Warriors on that fateful night of January 27 in Durban.
And Ndlovu who had earlier been in the country for the launch of the inaugural Zimbabwe edition of the VW Junior Masters tournament revealed that he had set his sights on teaching the youth.
Ndlovu also has the proud record of having been is the longest African player to have played in England having spent 13 years there after arriving at Coventry City as a teenager.
He was blessed with sublime skills the British did not take long before they compered him to legendary former Manchester United winger George Best.
While revealing his passion for youth football, Ndlovu also opened up for the first time about his life since he called time on his glittering career that staggered to its end with a stint at Durban outfit Thanda Royal Zulu.
The Flying Elephant as Ndlovu was affectionately known in England, currently stays in Johannesburg.
He also hinted that he had been pegged back by the divorce proceedings he is undergoing with South African songstress and mother of two of his kids Sharon Dee.
For much of the two decades that he addressed media gatherings, Ndlovu would either be clad in the Warriors tracksuit or his famous number 12 gold and green jersey. But having hung his boots, it was a refreshing sight to see the legendary former Highlanders forward turn up for the VW launch in a trendy brown suit, matching woollen T-shirt and a pair of moccasin shoes.
Of course, his image has taken some battering from the highly publicised ongoing divorce proceedings with Dee and alleged reports that he has gone broke.
Ndlovu who has also seen duty with Birmingham City and Sheffield United in England and South African Premiership giants Mamelodi Sundowns remains cool amid his off-field battles to sort his life.
The 36-year-old former skipper also said he would want to advise Musona and other young players on the need to stay away from drugs, alcohol abuse and on how to invest their earnings wisely.
Ndlovu believes that the current crop of players can also emulate him if they have the right approach and remain level-headed.
"I have broken many records and it’s good. I really appreciate it, what is important is what I have done in those years I think I have achieved the good and the bad but what’s life without the bad.
"I enjoyed myself, I learnt a lot on how to be somebody, to have a professional mind, respect, and respect of people in general. It taught me to relate with all people, when I see people they are as good as me.
"I want to be special on the pitch where I made my name and gained experience and off the pitch I want to be a normal human being doing what people in Kuwadzana or Makokoba do".
Ndlovu a teetotaller said, avoiding drugs and alcohol had helped him to remain focussed and achieved in his playing career.
He however, admits he is no saint but was glad that the upcoming players have a choice to learn from the good deeds he did and leave out the bad.
"In my whole life I have never touched beer and drugs, I am not saying people shouldn’t drink but I believed I had a role to play for the kids.
"The success comes with fame and women but when we teach the kids we should teach them to try and not make the mistakes we did. People have choices to make in life but in my opinion I did what is ok for Peter.
"I knew what I had gone abroad to do and that was football, which is still my job and will remain my job.
"The youngsters have a choice on what to do. They can take what I have done in terms of football and leave some and have a better balance. We have made a lot of mistakes and the youngsters should learn to eliminate the bad. You are born with talent but the other lifestyle you choose,’’ Ndlovu said.
Ndlovu said although he was leading the crusade on teaching the youth he reckons it is the duty of all the former players including his fellow ambassador Kasinauyo and all the former Warriors and club greats.
"They (upcoming players) should get advice from ex-players on how to respect your job, how to relate with people, how to invest your money wisely because this career comes with a lot," he said.
Ndlovu also opened up on his life in the hustle and bustle of Johannesburg.
"I am staying in Johannesburg. I am still heavily involved in football though I am no longer playing…I left Thanda Royal.
"People are no longer seeing me a lot now and have been asking what I am doing now but I cannot disclose what I am doing now.
"But in terms of football I will make a press statement sometime in June/July so that people know what I will be up to. I owe it to the people of Zimbabwe’’.
His ex-wife Dee is demanding more than R36 000 a month - R13 000 for each of the two kids and R10 000 for herself and for Peter to contribute to the bond payments.
Ndlovu has persistently refused to pay maintenance arguing at first that he was not sure whether the kids were his before the paternity tests confirmed he is the biological father.
The maintenance case is still before the courts to decide who gets what with the former striker also arguing that the money being demanded is too much and he can’t afford it.
Apart from all, this Peter said he had been moving on with life and will one day bare all.
"People will only know when I am ready and comfortable, right now it is a sensitive matter.
"It’s just like if its past it’s past . . . it’s like you cannot continue crying over someone who is dead. In the same way I have basically moved on.
" The full story will come out soon".
He however, would not say much about the many children he is rumoured to have.
"Let’s just say I have got enough kids but there won’t be a next Peter Ndlovu but I will be just receiving marooro (lobola) " he said in reference to his teenage daughters.
He also spoke about his family and his siblings including fellow former Highlanders and Warriors strikers Madinda and Adam.
"We were 11 in our family, six boys and five girls and lost the first born and fourth born. All my sisters live in the United Kingdom.
"As for my brothers, the youngest is in the UK, Madinda is in Botswana, Adam is in South Africa and Marko is in Bulawayo.
"My mother stays in Bulawayo but she is always in the farms in Binga that’s where we come from but we were born and bred in Bulawayo.
"My dad is late, he died in 1985. That’s one thing I miss I would have loved him to watch me prosper in my football career but well we are a family and we look up to each other.
"Adam runs his own place in Johannesburg. We are very united when it comes to family business and run a complex in Bulawayo."
Ndlovu had until last year also held the record of having been the last player to score a hat-trick at Anfield, the home of English Premier-ship giants Liverpool.
Peter scored all the three goals for Coventry in their 3-2 win over Liverpool and by so doing he had become the first player in 33 years to achieve that feat against the former European champions.
That record was however, broken by Arsenal’s Andrey Arshavin last April when the Russian star scored four goals in a 4-4 draw with Rafael Benitez’s men. |
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