Majuta Mpofu: The flawed genius

Yesterday Greats with Lovemore Dube

MAJUTA Mpofu rates among the most gifted players to emerge from this country.

Mpofu played for Bulawayo Wanderers later to be called Eagles and Highlanders.

He was a ball juggler par excellence who gave fans something to talk about for long. He gave youngsters tricks to try on their own in the streets and each time he had the ball on his feet, crowds home and away roared: “Juuuu Jujujuu.”

Heavily built and hard to shake off the ball, each time he was fielded defenders had a nightmare and through trickery with the ball or just stamina and power he would squeeze himself out of as many as four men marking him.

He was a creative genius whose presence on the field guaranteed fans something to savour and his teammates Josiah Nxumalo, Tymon Mabaleka and Mark “Juluka” Watson knew they would be supplied with clean through passes on goal.

Mpofu who was heavily built was every fan’s delight. He subtracted defenders for his teammates with relative ease and made sure his teammates had the easiest of tasks to beat the goalkeeper.

Mpofu in 1975 after moving to just crowned national league champions, Highlanders at the end of 1974, became a crowd favourite and impressed in matches against rising Kaizer Chiefs of that time and established clubs like Moroka Swallows and Orlando Pirates. Through Kaizer Moutaung’s appeal, Kaizer Chiefs were able to bring a 1970 World Cup winner Jairzhino to play for them. It was during one of the tours in 1975 that Mpofu impressed the Brazilian who did not waste time in recommending him to a top club back in his country.

Typical Mpofu, he spurned the chance through his truancy, something that dogged his career.

Asked in one of his regular visits to the Chronicle in 2010 why he disappeared and did not take up the offer, Mpofu responded: “Was I not going to entertain people in Brazil? Did I not entertain locals by not going there? I enjoyed my football here, my people, I heard, said they used to enjoy what I used to do. I am fine with what I did here.”

A flawed genius many considered him to be.

The man never trained regularly but would still put on a match-winning performance for either Bulawayo Wanderers or Highlanders week in, week out.

Working at the Bulawayo City Council Fire Brigade did not help matters as he also exploited the fact that they worked odd hours and shifts. It was common to have regular visits by either Wanderers or Highlanders bosses asking for time off for him to be available for crucial matches.

If he chose to come to training with Highlanders at Matshobana Grounds, he would be late. Once he got there he would take his time taking off his work or casual wear and then put on training gear.

Once the coaches took their eyes off his view, he would run a lap and vanish into action playing dribbling games with ball boys on the other end of the pitch.

If the coaches delayed in inviting him over to join the rest of Team A and Team B he would have disappeared accompanying the setting sun.

Among the boys who took a lot from his craft as a dribbler is Francis Paketh, younger brother to Bosso legend, Tito, who played for Eagles and Black Aces of Harare. Francis used to be among the Majuta Fan Club and did practice a lot in the Rest of the Boys v Majuta games behind the goalposts.

Francis got to be among the best ball jugglers in the country when turning out for Eagles and Aces.

It is said Mpofu was hard to predict.

Many times Mpofu would announce to the team while at Norton or arriving at Rufaro Stadium that he had forgotten his football boots.

It was inconceivable to leave him out of the team as he was the fans’ favourite and with all his transgressions he remained a match-winner. One of the big shoe size players would be asked to give way to Mpofu.

In previous discussions, Silas Ndlovu the great Highlanders coach of the 1970s, described Mpofu as one of the most naturally talented footballers he had ever coached. 

In bringing him to Highlanders he realised that Mpofu could easily fit into the side as his game had a crowd appeal. The late Barry Daka said it was hard to leave out Mpofu.

“The fans never cared about the behind-the-scenes that evolved around Majuta and the club. He hardly trained but put him into the team he would score a brace and create some chances and fans would be so happy. The situation would have been bad for the coaches to leave him out and they would have risked getting their homes burnt by angry Majuta-loving fans,” Daka once told this writer.

Joseph Ndlovu who broke into the Bulawayo Wanderers’ first team in 1977 described Mpofu as a very good footballer.

“He was a great dribbler. We all liked him as kids. We would go to Matshobana as boys to train with him. We learned a lot from him and when he came to coach us at Eagles when he retired we respected him because of what he used to do on the field of play,” said Ndlovu who played centreback for the club for almost a decade.

A former opponent and teammate at Highlanders and Matabeleland Select, Douglas Mloyi confirmed that Mpofu’s abstract reasoning made him a difficult team member.

Mloyi said he does not remember in almost six years he played together with Mpofu that they trained for consecutive days or weeks.

“One time we travelled to South Africa to play Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. On arrival there, he said he did not bring his football boots. He used a pair he was given by Itai Chieza. He was so impressive that Pirates wanted him to stay behind and join them.

“To everyone’s utter surprise, Majuta refused to stay behind. We thought he had a genuine reason. He explained that Pirates did not have a player good enough to play alongside him and pass the ball over,” said Mloyi.

One time while at training, he arrived late and asked for the ball. In no time he was swarmed by kids, among them Francis Paketh and he played against almost 20 kids.

“After about an hour, he was sweating and he surrendered the ball and proceeded home telling Silas he had done his bit for the day,” said Mloyi, a former Bosso South Zone, National Professional Soccer League, and Super League hero who won every silverware on display in the first decade of Independence.

Mloyi said the star just could not be nailed to training arguing that those that needed to learn how to play the game had to train daily.

The former Bosso captain said Mpofu did not smoke or drink and that in the team set-up, he was humble and spoke less.

Norman Gumbo a former Eagles and Zimbabwe Saints star, the younger brother to the legendary Rahman, said Mpofu was a “super hero” to him.

“Jujuju as we affectionately called him, was a super hero to me and a lot of other boys from Njube as we grew up. He used to pass through our hood from work and we would escort him excitedly to his house at Mabutweni where he would tell us training and dressing room stories at Highlanders. Other boys would watch with envy as we walked side by side with the super star. As a player Majuta was unplayable. He was so skilful, and strong, and his dribbling skills were out of this world, not only did he provide assists, but he scored a fair share. Jack Grealish of Manchester City comes close to the way Jujuju used to play.

“It was a dream to play under him when I played at Eagles. I remember the first day we met at Eagles . . . he came a bit late in the dressing room and was given the line-up by Charlie Wadawu, he looked at it and I heard him ask who I was? When Charlie pointed at me, he looked at me and smiled. He never said anything until after the game when he called me and we had a long one-to-one chat. From there I enjoyed my time at Eagles,” said Gumbo.

Former Rio Tinto and Under-20 international Rainos Mapfumo said Mpofu was a menace. 

He recalled the 1980 Chibuku Trophy final in which they were beaten 4-0 by Highlanders at Rufaro Stadium.

“I remember him very well. He troubled us when we met in the 1980 Chibuku Trophy we lost 4-0. Jujuju, Mark Watson, and Tymon Mabaleka were unplayable that afternoon. Ephert Lungu and our defenders were strong but he was just peeling them off. He was good at shielding the ball, surely among the best in Zimbabwe,” said Mapfumo.

Mpofu died a decade ago and in 1991 as the Dream Team was shaping up, he was made one of the national Under-23 coaches.

When he moved to coach at Eagles, he encouraged what he subscribed to which was individual brilliance woven into team play and the likes of Boy Ndlovu, Francis Paketh, Elvis “Chu Chu” Chiweshe, Peter Sakala, Collet Dube, Stoneshed Moyo, Rahman Gumbo, Kenneth Thebe and Tanny Banda were able to flourish under him.

When the Hall of Fame is inducted in the city or National Sports Stadium, Majuta is among those who will walk in without sweat.