The Sunday News
THE late cross-dressing athletics cheat Samukeliso Sithole had reportedly turned to football and was in the books of Zimbabwe Women Football Super League side Burrow Jets.
Sithole had reportedly approached the club, claiming she was once a goalkeeper at army side, Black Rhinos.
He reportedly featured for the side in several games and impressed as a goalkeeper.
Jets director and coach, Thembelani Dhliwayo said they were shocked to see the picture of Sithole in our sister paper The Chronicle with another name attributed to him following “her” death on Tuesday.
He said they were alerted to the issue by other women football officials after they saw her photograph in the media appearing next to the story about Sithole’s death.
“He approached us last November and told us he was not contracted to any team and wanted to play for us. He told us her name was Gamuchirayi Getrude Sibanda and had been a goalkeeper for army side, Black Rhinos.
“We welcomed her with both arms because we felt we could use her experience as she came from a good team, Rhinos. We took her in and did not ask her any questions or bother to do background checks. She was good in between the goalposts, I would admit,” said Dhliwayo.
He said he had early on Friday received a message that “Gamu” had passed on but did not link it with Sithole’s death.
Dhliwayo said even after being told by other officials that it was their goalkeeper’s picture which had appeared in the newspapers, he felt it was a far-fetched story and only believed the story after seeing Sithole’s picture in the newspapers.
Several Jets players expressed shock and disbelief over the issue saying they never suspected he (Sithole) was a man although he had some male features and was in the habit of changing or undressing alone.
Midfielder Sicelo Ncube said they still could not believe he was male.
“Even though he had some male features, he still looked like a woman and it would have been difficult for us to even imagine that he was not a woman. It will take some time for this to sink in, I am just shocked. We would undress in front of him as we did not have any fears,” she said.
Susan “Sollie” Gandanda said although he used to shave and had pimples caused by frequent shaving it never crossed the players’ minds he was male.
“We have many female football players who exhibit male behaviour so it did not worry us. When I heard the story I thought it was a lie until I saw the picture in the Chronicle,” she said.
Dhliwayo said they parted ways with him due to disciplinary problems as he was insolent, bossy and couldn’t relate well with other players.
“She or let me say he was very rude and bossy, he did not want to take orders from others but freely dished them out and always used the fact that she was older than most if not all the players in the team. This made it difficult for him to be a team player,” he said.
In media reports, his mother confirmed he was born male and was christened Mduduzi at birth.
Sithole gained fame for his feats in women athletics, going on to represent Zimbabwe at the highest level. He was later revealed to be a man but continued participating in female sports among them netball and boxing.
However, it was in athletics where she made a name for “herself” and was in the team of 50 Zimbabwean athletes which took its trailblazing act to the Zone Six Championships held in Mozambique.
Her exploits saw her being among the elite class of athletes, winning nine out of Zimbabwe’s total haul of 40 medals.
She also took part in the Southern Region Championships in Botswana in 2004 where she won the only gold for Zimbabwe.
At home, she made history when she scooped five gold medals and a bronze in long jump, shot put, javelin, high jump and 400m hurdles at the provincial youth championships held in Masvingo in 2004.
Sibanda reportedly died at Mpilo Central Hospital on Thursday after he was stabbed on the collar bone with a screwdriver by his brother Kelvin Sibanda during a quarrel over a wardrobe.
