‘A natural leader and teacher’: Tributes pour in for legendary Highlanders administrator Gumede

BY SPORTS REPORTER

Legendary football administrator and Highlanders president, Ndumiso Gumende, has died.

According to health officials at Mpilo Hospital, Gumede (75) died on Wednesday at the hospital where he was admitted for a kidney ailment.

Family friends said he was first taken to hospital on Tuesday but was treated and discharged only for his condition to deteriorate the following morning.

Gumede was a veteran football administrator, who once also held the position of vice president of the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa)

He was involved in Highlanders affairs in the early 1970s before becoming the club’s chairperson and secretary general.

During his term, he spearheaded the purchasing of various club properties in the Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Bulawayo that include Highlanders’ offices in the city centre, the club house and a guest house in Luveve.

Highlanders’ patron Jimmy Solumba Ncube led with tributes to the veteran administrator, praising him as a “natural leader and a teacher – fountain of wisdom and knowledge.”

Zifa sent its “condolences to the football fraternity and nation at large on the sudden passing of Zifa vice president and general secretary Ndumiso Gumede.”

Highlanders supporters also took to social media to mourn the maverick administrator.

The football governing body added that Gumede was a “decorated football administrator, who truly loved the beautiful game (and) will be hard to replace.”

Gumude served as Highlanders chairman and chief executive officer before returning as president.

On December 22, the club’s supporters organised a party at the Highlanders Clubhouse where they honoured him for the role he played in building one of Zimbabwe’s most popular football teams.

Gumede, who at some point took to the stage to entertain the fans, said he was grateful for the organisers for celebrating him while he was still alive.

The veteran football administrator, who started as a secondary school teacher in the 1970s, was also a talented actor and entertainer. – Additional reporting by VOA