Still Around: Ganizani ‘Zuma’ Banda

If the Malawi football fraternity had to list down names of best players it has lost to work or family pressure in the past decade, then former Civo United winger Ganizani ‘Zuma’ Banda would have probably topped the list.

The 32-year-old supervisor at Area 4 Total Filling Station in Lilongwe tried his best to reach enviable heights in football since joining Civo United in 1995, but his parents persistently discouraged him. They wanted him to concentrate on his studies. This cost him an opportunity to play for Big Bullets when coach Nsazurwimo Ramadhan wanted to sign him in 2000.

Banda, who completed his secondary education in 2004, earned call-ups in national Under-20 and Under-17 squads between 1999 and 2005. However, pressure from his employers made him to hang his boots in 2005.

He loved soccer so much that he could give excuses for not being at work just to play a game or attend training sessions.

“But I stopped all that and finally quit football in 2005 after one of my bosses discovered my dishonesty. That time, I lied that I was ill, when I wanted to train with the Flames.

“Two days later, my boss was angered by a newspaper article that went with my picture in action during the training session. He, however, forgave me after I apologised, but for fear of such incidents in future, I resolved to call it quits and concentrate on my job,” he said.

In his haydays, Banda was christened ‘Zuma’ by fans because his pace and skill  resembled those of of South Africa’s former star Sibusiso Zuma.

Dave Mpesi and Young Chimodzi are some of the coaches that nurtured him at Civo.