Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
THE Mutare football fraternity today took time to remember one of the city’s legendary stars – Johnson ‘Enzo’ Mbaradza – who died on this day 27 years ago.
The former Tanganda FC midfield genius, Mbaradza, breathed his last following a fatal car crash, which his teammates Jimmy Kapitau and Emmanuel Maluwa survived.
His demise came after leaving an indelible mark on the football landscape, especially in Mutare where many still look back with nostalgia.
Former Highlanders player Blessing Gumiso had this to say: “On this day, 27 years ago we lost our football legend Johnson Mbaradza aka Enzo. Growing up I learnt a lot from Enzo, especially behaving well off the field of play. He always preached about life after football. When I was still going to school, at Elise Gledhill while playing for Tanganda Juniors on school holidays we would do some piece jobs at Tanganda, and Enzo one day said to me ‘Blessing in life you must always challenge yourself’.
“At that time, he was a general hand at Tanganda Tea Company, but he started going to school to do electrical engineering. He was then moved from being a general worker. He was one of the first players to own a house and car those years. Enzo was so smart with his lifestyle. He went on to assemble a gym at his house and would invite me, Kenny Suwari, Steven Matsaira and Steven Sibanda for sit ups and other physical exercises. Respect to Enzo from the bottom of my heart, I shall always owe you elder.”
