About Delma Lupepe, Bossolona, let us think deeply

The last time on the subject of Delma Lupepe, I was completely misunderstood. If this was politics, I would say 'misquote'. My idea is not of giving Highlanders Football Club to Mr. Lupepe, but to bring Delma to Bosso. We observed that he could be desired for limited use by many as they consider him a huge risk as one comment went. I may agree only as far as his involvement is concerned depending on how you view it. What may be acceptable to him could be a role just as an active partner or at worst, a passive one. 

To put it into perspective, many thought that may be a parasitic situation. One Tshepo Mabalane was of the opinion that he was autocratic. "From a distance, Delma appears to be in the Kaizer Motaung and Roman Abrahamovic type of administrator who could be good for Man City, Chelsea or TP Mazembe type of situations." He thought Bosso needed a Perez or Joseph Bartomeu who have great respect of development structures and can spend millions on a nine year old, people who can let a star player of Yaya Toure's calibre go for the sake of their home-grown talent.

The fear that many have of him is the exact reason why he is the reason he should join the club. The many of his ruthless deals and both the obvious and underground networks became the juicy part of the possible marriage. Football is not for monks anymore. It is not a game for sissies. His appetite for power and hunger for success cannot compare with a human being I know. Cunning as a fox and with an eye for detail, his stand on the things he believe in, the same reason we crucified him, can be harnessed for the game, his success and the region.

Let us look at him as an employee. The credentials of the man as businessman and a footballer are never in doubt. There is obvious doubt of the possible intentions and his need for greed. It would be a fair assessment to say that he may grow too big for his shoes and become unscrupulous. The man is a natural deal maker, an authority. He becomes very aggressive and bullish when cornered. The Board and the Executive will not play the hide and sick where everybody is hiding and nobody is seeking. Lupepe can of course, speak the language and dance to the tune if needed.

First things first. Does Lupepe have the ability to make millions? Can he manufacture merchandise and items to grow a pregnant worldwide brand? Is he in need to make loads of cash? Then what credentials would one have to have? One thing, he will make millions, and so will the club. In his terms of engagement, there should never be any doubt that whosoever dances pays the piper.

The scope of the relationship would be limited to branding and merchandising as a Chief Operations Officer. His influence would be limited to just making money and nothing else. Bosso has strong legal teams and auditors to monitor him. Delma is globally well connected and the relationships he builds should benefit the club for life. Never should it be an option to have him influence the running of the club. His role should remain in the business side of Highlanders and build the Bosso brand as well to create a sustainable business wing capable of evolving and developing and stand the test of time.

All this, people know he is capable of, but can he be trusted? He will have to, given the potential of his vantage position in being associated with Mantengwane and being married to Tymon Mabaleka's sister. He needs the money, though not desperate, and there is money in the name of Highlanders, in the black and white shield with a spear and knobkerrie. His business acumen has no equal.

It should not be held back to deny him a dollar for a Bosso dollar deal. You can be sure he can build a million dollar franchise in Bosso and harness all its massive support that lies dormant in the diaspora. Another bet would be to hand him the rights to the name and brand and ask him to rack in the money from a distance, but monitoring someone else's business will not be easy at all. The deals and books would be hard to access and stock taking almost impossible. Audit report would be tempered with and all the accounting issue would be a huge mess.

I am convinced he would also get one marketing tool going, one I am passionate about. It is not the sale of merchandise and branding a few items. To many Bossolona sons and daughters, the honour of serving the club goes with their last kick of the ball for the team. What about music CDs and DVDs of the team's most memorable matches?

Back to my point. There is need for the Hall Of Fame. One simple thing that will make the names of the heroes immortal would be huge pictures in the stadium and dressing rooms. The away dressing room could be named Douglas Mloyi or Alexander Maseko This sends a message to the opposition that the goals will be hard to come by. The home dressing room could be Peter Ndlovu, inspiring the home strikers to go for the kill. The stands named after Madinda Ndlovu, Willard Khumalo, Benjamin Nkonjera and Peter Nkomo are just few examples of solidifying the history of the club and make the whole brand marketable. This, the Bosso supporters can do. All they have to do is to organise a march with a formal request to the City fathers who own the stadium.

Let us hear what you think by leaving a comment below and let's discuss.

Highlanders, Bulawayo football needs Delma Lupepe

They destroyed him, and the whole Southern region killed his passion and desire. They murdered football when they chucked out Delma Lupepe out of football and we danced. It was an emotional and miscalculated move borne out of selfish motives and uneducated belief that he was an unnecessary evil.
I will tell you the truth. He was not evil at all and to appease a few, I would admit he was a necessary evil. His demise spelt a bad era for the game, tribe, politics, the region and the nation as much as the disappearance of Zimbabwe Saints was to Bulawayo. If you know or remember, there was never a passion like when Highlanders was playing against Saints. The rivalry was a result of the history of the clubs.

The tribal tension sandwiched with the Shona language in Matebeleland spiced the events. Besides, there was always a political connotation of Bosso (PF-ZAPU) and Chikwata (ZANU (PF)). Remember that Highlanders went as Matebeleland Highlanders for a long time during the peak of the political tensions and the liberation struggle of Zimbabwe. Zim Saints Chiwororo was Mashonaland United. That made for the exciting times in the game and overplayed itself in times of peace.

Either way, the power and excitement of the Saints teams that dominated the scene in the 1988-89 era overpowered the dominance of Bosso in Cup ties even though Tshilamoya recaptured the glory days by the dominance of the league thereafter.

The times of Zimbabwe Saints came to an end with the emergence of Amazulu Football Club which was immediately followed by the re-introduction of Railstars. At the best of times, the four teams were in the top league simultaneously. The financial muscle of Amazulu intimidated other teams as Chikwata lost focus getting attracted to the money Lupepe flashed cash to acquire the best talent. That process was neither evil nor flawed.

The Saints leadership began squabbles that dragged the team down the drain and it looks like for good. They jostled to bleed their team dry and their success at that resulted in the biggest football tragedy of our time. For many, Delma's money was evil, but it was not. It was rather the root of the evil. In many times in history, one finds that the nature of Highlanders' structures did not allow people of his calibre close by, unfortunately.

The first time I heard of Amazulu, I was at Highlanders training grounds as a fringe reserve goalkeeper. The late Cleopas Dlodlo was having a private conversation about a group of people that included himself and Ezra Tshisa Sibanda being part of it. The truth of that was never established, but if true, the wisdom of those people was in taking Delma along as he became the sole proprietor of the franchise.

Outside football, Mr Lupepe was known as an astute businessman with a strong passion for what he did and his assets. He guarded everything he had jealously. After all, I should know. Many times I found myself negotiating with him personally, bypassing the team's management executive. I must admit this had its own flaws.

I first met him in trying to establish a joint football academy. My KFA needed a sponsor and we agreed on so many aspects until his business manager failed to honour our agreement and proposed to change KFA to AFA, with me a 20% shareholder. The deal fell through. At the high demand of the then unknown Farai Mujokoro, we had to sit and discus fees as he wanted to have the player for free since he had no official contract with the academy. We set a fee which he paid without fuss.

My last contact with the man was during the days before I joined Bosso as a Technical Advisor. We had many options tabled and agreed on. The club's executive threw the spanners into the works. He later chased me for my services through Jerry Mafripa, at a time I could not take his job. Then I contacted him when I wanted to have Mujokoro follow Thabani Masawi to Albania.

That call made us enemies for a moment. He asked me why I thought that was possible. My response was that I thought as a friend of mine, we could do business. That was the worst choice of words from me. He flipped and was very frothy. "There are no friends in business.", he said and banged the phone.

I knew the man who was passionate and fond of the game, that he was a Highlanders fan. He was a life-member of the club. In all their pain and trouble, Highlanders need Delma Lupepe. They have needed him all along. It is not that he will hijack the club. For a period of time, his tested acumen in the cooperate world would benefit him and the club. My experience with Highlanders is their disgust at the thought of an individual benefiting using the Bosso name and logo. They must get over that.

One man told me that his business empire was in doldrums and was slightly above water. That cannot be a better excuse to ramp him in and let him harness and harvest the club's potential. He will greatly benefit of course and the club will remain at a higher level long after he is gone.

Delma Lupepe will stretch that brand to the maximum. In my book, What Highlanders Need Right Now! available on Amazon.com, I explained how Bosso needed some very selfish and yet astute business people with a passion for the team and the game to utilise the massive size of the brand. Brushing the stupid inferiority and timid excuses away, this is one clever man who can be very useful for the love and worthy cause of iBosso. At the end of the day, at least he may be motivated enough to bring Amazulu back, if not Saints.

How Coaching Highlanders Was A Bad Idea.

[caption id="attachment_2298" align="alignright" width="630" caption="Mortezza, Jimmy and Bob."][/caption]

If one is too young and tastes too much success too early, it can be too disastrous, especially if you like to have things too perfect and you have too much expectation of yourself. There was no doubt Highlanders FC needed to move a level up after the disappointing Sable de Batie heartache, in the Africa Champions League in the year 2000. They headed for another, exactly 12 months later. I had done my studies of African football.I had road-shows lecturing football and doing coaching courses. I had an academy and club to run and everything was in overdrive.

Amazulu Football Club Director, Delma Lupepe wanted to give me the job as Football Director at his club.I was recovering from KFA heartache because the academy could go ahead without a sponsor. Lupepe had lined up an official club car, a good salary and school fees for children at the prestigious private school.

The biggest problem there was his football executive committee. They liked Charles Mhlauri and even then, they did not accept to have all these pecks that Mhlauri was not afforded. As fate would have it, the day to finalise the contract, Lupepe had flown out for an urgent business meeting. At that point, Bosso had announced the coaching department line-up and I was still weighing my options. Money lost to passion and I had a good excuse to deny a huge contract when Lupepe came back after that weekend.

With Rahman Gumbo as head coach and Willard Khumalo as assistant, Ernest Maphepha was the Manager and getting into sync with all the people was not easy. The toughest part was always going to be compromising on the philosophies and different schools of thought. Gumbo had a work routine that only me wanted to change. It worked for him before and he was comfortable with it. It was solely a case of balancing the technical and tactical jobs and choosing the correct peak periods not to burn out before the climax or hitting peak after climax. Getting results was his baby, but then the line here was thin as you could imagine.  

Those moments were always interesting and challenging and were an education I got as much as I gave. The tact of dealing with players was one thing I got from Rahman. The only problem was that I went into it far too early and somehow unprepared for the way the system was set up. While my services were essential, starting at the top of a new environment for me was overwhelming, but then, I had been Gumbo's Instructor and could not deputise him. The compromise to have top-notch bulls in the same kraal was never going to be easy and we both lost our jobs. The Chairmen expected to have one towing the line of the other and it was not going to be possible. It was conceived that either the Technical Advisor is not good or the Coach was not taking advise.

The turning point of things was the trip to Tanzania for a Champions League fixture against Young Africans. We did our best to pull off a draw in Dar-es-Salaam and then assumed that we had the match wrapped up. While training preparation catered for the problems we encountered in Tanzania, during the match at BF, the same problem arose and despite our communication to have the situation rectified, nothing changed and the assumption was that the technical department was blind. This came from blind men.

My next job after that, was the International Olympic Solidarity Committee course on Youth Development for youth and women coaches as well as school teachers, one of the best programmes FIFA has, to develop junior coaches the game the world over. The head instructor was Mortezza , a FIFA Instructor. Ben Moyo, Nelson Matongorere, Jimmy Malomo formerly of Tanganda and Green Buffaloes and Bob Lines, then Coaches National Chairman were also in attendance.

It was a huge class that was graced by the presence of former Zimbabwe President Canaan Banana, who claimed to share my grandmother's roots because he could speak a little of my foreign language, and then ZIFA Chairman Leo Mugabe. Former Caps United coach, Geshon Ntini was still coach of Caps United under 18 team and showed the potential to be the coach he went on to become.

If I had taken the Amazulu job, who had pressure to win the league but no Champions League assignment, it was going to be a different ball game. Usuthu would have been treading on new ground and all of us would have been singing the same tune. There are no regrets for being Highlanders Technical Advisor but then, the very good lessons leant at that time were tied to the big rock and sunk into the sea by then Chairman, a great man and manager indeed. Were it not for the impulsive behaviour of James Mangwana Tshuma at that point, Bosso would have won the Champions League by now, actually, the following year.

How Coaching Highlanders Was A Bad Idea.

[caption id="attachment_2298" align="alignright" width="630" caption="Mortezza, Jimmy and Bob."][/caption]

If one is too young and tastes too much success too early, it can be too disastrous, especially if you like to have things too perfect and you have too much expectation of yourself. There was no doubt Highlanders FC needed to move a level up after the disappointing Sable de Batie heartache, in the Africa Champions League in the year 2000. They headed for another, exactly 12 months later. I had done my studies of African football.I had road-shows lecturing football and doing coaching courses. I had an academy and club to run and everything was in overdrive.

Amazulu Football Club Director, Delma Lupepe wanted to give me the job as Football Director at his club.I was recovering from KFA heartache because the academy could go ahead without a sponsor. Lupepe had lined up an official club car, a good salary and school fees for children at the prestigious private school.

The biggest problem there was his football executive committee. They liked Charles Mhlauri and even then, they did not accept to have all these pecks that Mhlauri was not afforded. As fate would have it, the day to finalise the contract, Lupepe had flown out for an urgent business meeting. At that point, Bosso had announced the coaching department line-up and I was still weighing my options. Money lost to passion and I had a good excuse to deny a huge contract when Lupepe came back after that weekend.

With Rahman Gumbo as head coach and Willard Khumalo as assistant, Ernest Maphepha was the Manager and getting into sync with all the people was not easy. The toughest part was always going to be compromising on the philosophies and different schools of thought. Gumbo had a work routine that only me wanted to change. It worked for him before and he was comfortable with it. It was solely a case of balancing the technical and tactical jobs and choosing the correct peak periods not to burn out before the climax or hitting peak after climax. Getting results was his baby, but then the line here was thin as you could imagine.  

Those moments were always interesting and challenging and were an education I got as much as I gave. The tact of dealing with players was one thing I got from Rahman. The only problem was that I went into it far too early and somehow unprepared for the way the system was set up. While my services were essential, starting at the top of a new environment for me was overwhelming, but then, I had been Gumbo's Instructor and could not deputise him. The compromise to have top-notch bulls in the same kraal was never going to be easy and we both lost our jobs. The Chairmen expected to have one towing the line of the other and it was not going to be possible. It was conceived that either the Technical Advisor is not good or the Coach was not taking advise.

The turning point of things was the trip to Tanzania for a Champions League fixture against Young Africans. We did our best to pull off a draw in Dar-es-Salaam and then assumed that we had the match wrapped up. While training preparation catered for the problems we encountered in Tanzania, during the match at BF, the same problem arose and despite our communication to have the situation rectified, nothing changed and the assumption was that the technical department was blind. This came from blind men.

My next job after that, was the International Olympic Solidarity Committee course on Youth Development for youth and women coaches as well as school teachers, one of the best programmes FIFA has, to develop junior coaches the game the world over. The head instructor was Mortezza , a FIFA Instructor. Ben Moyo, Nelson Matongorere, Jimmy Malomo formerly of Tanganda and Green Buffaloes and Bob Lines, then Coaches National Chairman were also in attendance.

It was a huge class that was graced by the presence of former Zimbabwe President Canaan Banana, who claimed to share my grandmother's roots because he could speak a little of my foreign language, and then ZIFA Chairman Leo Mugabe. Former Caps United coach, Geshon Ntini was still coach of Caps United under 18 team and showed the potential to be the coach he went on to become.

If I had taken the Amazulu job, who had pressure to win the league but no Champions League assignment, it was going to be a different ball game. Usuthu would have been treading on new ground and all of us would have been singing the same tune. There are no regrets for being Highlanders Technical Advisor but then, the very good lessons leant at that time were tied to the big rock and sunk into the sea by then Chairman, a great man and manager indeed. Were it not for the impulsive behaviour of James Mangwana Tshuma at that point, Bosso would have won the Champions League by now, actually, the following year.

How Coaching Highlanders Was A Bad Idea.

[caption id="attachment_2298" align="alignright" width="630" caption="Mortezza, Jimmy and Bob."][/caption]

If one is too young and tastes too much success too early, it can be too disastrous, especially if you like to have things too perfect and you have too much expectation of yourself. There was no doubt Highlanders FC needed to move a level up after the disappointing Sable de Batie heartache, in the Africa Champions League in the year 2000. They headed for another, exactly 12 months later. I had done my studies of African football.I had road-shows lecturing football and doing coaching courses. I had an academy and club to run and everything was in overdrive.

Amazulu Football Club Director, Delma Lupepe wanted to give me the job as Football Director at his club.I was recovering from KFA heartache because the academy could go ahead without a sponsor. Lupepe had lined up an official club car, a good salary and school fees for children at the prestigious private school.

The biggest problem there was his football executive committee. They liked Charles Mhlauri and even then, they did not accept to have all these pecks that Mhlauri was not afforded. As fate would have it, the day to finalise the contract, Lupepe had flown out for an urgent business meeting. At that point, Bosso had announced the coaching department line-up and I was still weighing my options. Money lost to passion and I had a good excuse to deny a huge contract when Lupepe came back after that weekend.

With Rahman Gumbo as head coach and Willard Khumalo as assistant, Ernest Maphepha was the Manager and getting into sync with all the people was not easy. The toughest part was always going to be compromising on the philosophies and different schools of thought. Gumbo had a work routine that only me wanted to change. It worked for him before and he was comfortable with it. It was solely a case of balancing the technical and tactical jobs and choosing the correct peak periods not to burn out before the climax or hitting peak after climax. Getting results was his baby, but then the line here was thin as you could imagine.  

Those moments were always interesting and challenging and were an education I got as much as I gave. The tact of dealing with players was one thing I got from Rahman. The only problem was that I went into it far too early and somehow unprepared for the way the system was set up. While my services were essential, starting at the top of a new environment for me was overwhelming, but then, I had been Gumbo's Instructor and could not deputise him. The compromise to have top-notch bulls in the same kraal was never going to be easy and we both lost our jobs. The Chairmen expected to have one towing the line of the other and it was not going to be possible. It was conceived that either the Technical Advisor is not good or the Coach was not taking advise.

The turning point of things was the trip to Tanzania for a Champions League fixture against Young Africans. We did our best to pull off a draw in Dar-es-Salaam and then assumed that we had the match wrapped up. While training preparation catered for the problems we encountered in Tanzania, during the match at BF, the same problem arose and despite our communication to have the situation rectified, nothing changed and the assumption was that the technical department was blind. This came from blind men.

My next job after that, was the International Olympic Solidarity Committee course on Youth Development for youth and women coaches as well as school teachers, one of the best programmes FIFA has, to develop junior coaches the game the world over. The head instructor was Mortezza , a FIFA Instructor. Ben Moyo, Nelson Matongorere, Jimmy Malomo formerly of Tanganda and Green Buffaloes and Bob Lines, then Coaches National Chairman were also in attendance.

It was a huge class that was graced by the presence of former Zimbabwe President Canaan Banana, who claimed to share my grandmother's roots because he could speak a little of my foreign language, and then ZIFA Chairman Leo Mugabe. Former Caps United coach, Geshon Ntini was still coach of Caps United under 18 team and showed the potential to be the coach he went on to become.

If I had taken the Amazulu job, who had pressure to win the league but no Champions League assignment, it was going to be a different ball game. Usuthu would have been treading on new ground and all of us would have been singing the same tune. There are no regrets for being Highlanders Technical Advisor but then, the very good lessons leant at that time were tied to the big rock and sunk into the sea by then Chairman, a great man and manager indeed. Were it not for the impulsive behaviour of James Mangwana Tshuma at that point, Bosso would have won the Champions League by now, actually, the following year.

How Coaching Highlanders Was A Bad Idea.

[caption id="attachment_2298" align="alignright" width="630" caption="Mortezza, Jimmy and Bob."][/caption]

If one is too young and tastes too much success too early, it can be too disastrous, especially if you like to have things too perfect and you have too much expectation of yourself. There was no doubt Highlanders FC needed to move a level up after the disappointing Sable de Batie heartache, in the Africa Champions League in the year 2000. They headed for another, exactly 12 months later. I had done my studies of African football.I had road-shows lecturing football and doing coaching courses. I had an academy and club to run and everything was in overdrive.

Amazulu Football Club Director, Delma Lupepe wanted to give me the job as Football Director at his club.I was recovering from KFA heartache because the academy could go ahead without a sponsor. Lupepe had lined up an official club car, a good salary and school fees for children at the prestigious private school.

The biggest problem there was his football executive committee. They liked Charles Mhlauri and even then, they did not accept to have all these pecks that Mhlauri was not afforded. As fate would have it, the day to finalise the contract, Lupepe had flown out for an urgent business meeting. At that point, Bosso had announced the coaching department line-up and I was still weighing my options. Money lost to passion and I had a good excuse to deny a huge contract when Lupepe came back after that weekend.

With Rahman Gumbo as head coach and Willard Khumalo as assistant, Ernest Maphepha was the Manager and getting into sync with all the people was not easy. The toughest part was always going to be compromising on the philosophies and different schools of thought. Gumbo had a work routine that only me wanted to change. It worked for him before and he was comfortable with it. It was solely a case of balancing the technical and tactical jobs and choosing the correct peak periods not to burn out before the climax or hitting peak after climax. Getting results was his baby, but then the line here was thin as you could imagine.  

Those moments were always interesting and challenging and were an education I got as much as I gave. The tact of dealing with players was one thing I got from Rahman. The only problem was that I went into it far too early and somehow unprepared for the way the system was set up. While my services were essential, starting at the top of a new environment for me was overwhelming, but then, I had been Gumbo's Instructor and could not deputise him. The compromise to have top-notch bulls in the same kraal was never going to be easy and we both lost our jobs. The Chairmen expected to have one towing the line of the other and it was not going to be possible. It was conceived that either the Technical Advisor is not good or the Coach was not taking advise.

The turning point of things was the trip to Tanzania for a Champions League fixture against Young Africans. We did our best to pull off a draw in Dar-es-Salaam and then assumed that we had the match wrapped up. While training preparation catered for the problems we encountered in Tanzania, during the match at BF, the same problem arose and despite our communication to have the situation rectified, nothing changed and the assumption was that the technical department was blind. This came from blind men.

My next job after that, was the International Olympic Solidarity Committee course on Youth Development for youth and women coaches as well as school teachers, one of the best programmes FIFA has, to develop junior coaches the game the world over. The head instructor was Mortezza , a FIFA Instructor. Ben Moyo, Nelson Matongorere, Jimmy Malomo formerly of Tanganda and Green Buffaloes and Bob Lines, then Coaches National Chairman were also in attendance.

It was a huge class that was graced by the presence of former Zimbabwe President Canaan Banana, who claimed to share my grandmother's roots because he could speak a little of my foreign language, and then ZIFA Chairman Leo Mugabe. Former Caps United coach, Geshon Ntini was still coach of Caps United under 18 team and showed the potential to be the coach he went on to become.

If I had taken the Amazulu job, who had pressure to win the league but no Champions League assignment, it was going to be a different ball game. Usuthu would have been treading on new ground and all of us would have been singing the same tune. There are no regrets for being Highlanders Technical Advisor but then, the very good lessons leant at that time were tied to the big rock and sunk into the sea by then Chairman, a great man and manager indeed. Were it not for the impulsive behaviour of James Mangwana Tshuma at that point, Bosso would have won the Champions League by now, actually, the following year.