Maybe, on reflection, we played a part in Edzai’s death Edzai Kasinauyo
Edzai Kasinauyo

Edzai Kasinauyo

Bothwell Mahlengwe Correspondent
ON the morning of October 13, 2012, we landed in Luanda aboard a chartered Air Zimbabwe plane for the AFCON 2013 finals qualifier.

Everything seemed in order — the players seemed ready, the technical team, appeared confident but one thing was missing — we had left the playing kit in Harare.

With everyone at a loss, something had to be done, and very fast. Someone had to quickly fly from Harare to Johannesburg then connect to Luanda and they had to use their funds because ZIFA were broke.

Enter Edzai Kasinauyo. With 18 national team caps under his belt, including at AFCON 2006, Edzai proved his love for the game years after hanging up his boots.

I had first met Edzai at Lord Marlven School in Waterfalls, Harare, in 1991. I was a Lower Sixth student at Highfield High 1 School and Edzai was a Form 3 chap at Lord Marlven. That was my first game back in the city after spending my early years of secondary education at Gutu High School.

What brought my attention to Edzai on that day was the way he cried when his team lost. I later realised that they had a historical rivalry with one Solomon Kaseke who was the key player in our Under-16 team dating back to primary school when Edzai was at Southerton.

I didn’t meet Edzai again until the day he brought the Warriors kit to Luanda. However, I followed him throughout his playing career and he impressed me with his discipline, passion and drive for the game. He was dedicated to football.

It’s not surprising he was instrumental in the transfers of Knowledge Musona and Khama Billiat to South Africa. He was also involved in the striking of the Adidas kit deal for Dynamos and Highlanders.

When Edzai put his name for ZIFA Board candidature in November 2015, the football family was excited. To me, one of my true gentlemen and role models in Zimbabwe football, was taking his rightful place.

The few other members of my generation I hold in the same vein are Desmond Maringwa, Tonderai Ndiraya and Methembe Ndlovu. He won his battle, as he usually did, and along the way came reports suggesting Edzai had been diagnosed with some form of cancer.

As the fighter we knew him, we knew he was going to fight. With the help of a supporting family and football friends, we all hoped for the best.

Unfortunately, his marriage crumbled. One pillar of support was gone. A reason to survive and fight had been shaken but he had his first love — football.

A man’s purpose in life is to give back to the world, Edzai’s was to give back through football. The, out of the blue, disaster struck. On 30 March 2016, Edzai Kasinauyo was expelled from the ZIFA Board on allegations of planning to fix the Warriors/Lesotho match.

His alleged accomplices were Ian Gorowa, Nation Dube and Henrietta Rushwaya. A man who had served football diligently for over three decades suddenly had his livelihood, and his reputation, taken away in a flash.

His purpose for living taken away just like that. As has been proved over the years, the notion of innocent until proven guilty is non-existent in Zimbabwe football. So many times, baseless accusations have been used as a tool to frustrate and eliminate opponents.

Trying to prove your innocence is a lost cause when the only unpunishable recourse is through the same powers. Getting recourse outside football is a taboo in FIFA books.

Edzai had to do all he could to clear his name and he approached the courts and he was cleared on the basis of questionable evidence presented. In February this year, ZIFA lifted the suspension on Edzai and others.

Even after the ban had been lifted and the court battles won, Edzai’s name would be forever be tainted. Shona spells it well, anga asvibiswa kare, especially with the power of technology.

He would need to explain himself in almost all crucial football engagements. Did he still have enough energy for that and also to fight the disease that was ravaging his body? Hadn’t football, his first love and his life purpose, burdened him in the end, and sapped him of the energy to fight a deadly disease?

What more could he cling to?

I can imagine him lying in his bed asking questions like, ‘What’s next?’

His marriage gone, his game rejecting him. When you take a man’s passion away from him you would have taken away his reason for living. Didn’t we infuse negative energy into Edzai’s ailing body when we baselessly expelled him from football?

What could have been his purpose after football? Football betrayed Edzai Kasinauyo and, to some extent, even killed him. The most honourable thing to do is to apologise for the way we treated Edzai in the end. We let a good man down.

Go Well my brother.

Sad I couldn’t say goodbye and thank you for bringing that Warriors kit.

Bothwell Mahlengwe is a retired Premiership footballer and banker and can be contacted on the e-mail, [email protected]

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