From Gemazo magazine LETS PRAY FOR SHINGI KAWONDERA STAR BATTLES MENTAL ILLNESS By Ranganai Dzotizei FORMER Zimbabwe international Shingi Kawondera is battling a mental illness and has been admitted at Parirenyatwa Psychiatric Unit (Annexe) after he suffered a nervous breakdown last Saturday night. In one of the more sad episodes to befall one of Zimbabwe’s finest talents, the once darling of many a football fan in the later parts of the new millennium, Kawondera who spent 13 years playing top-flight football in Europe said to have spiraled into depression and turned him into train wreck. The former CAPS forward Kawondera’s condition deteriorated last Saturday night (23 August in Chitungwiza when he became paranoid and violent – beating up people on the streets before he was subdued and taken by relatives to Parirenyatwa Psychiatric Unit where is currently admitted and undergoing treatment. Gemazo Blitz visited in the Psychiatric Unit on Tuesday afternoon and saw Kawondera draped in white understandably under control as he had taken medication a few hours earlier, but looked frail and weak with his trademark dreadlocks had been cut replaced by an uncombed short hair. He as he spoke on the state of his health, with a clear idea of what is happening around him. “I came here on Saturday. I am fine now my brother. I have been taking medication but it is painful to take. I don’t know when I am going to be out. We take food at given times. I am fine man,” he said. As he spoke, some people, who had come to see their beloved ones in the same facility, seem to recognize him and enquired of his condition which were greeted with the simple crisp answer, “I am fine”, with messages of support being passed to the ailing former football genius as they walked away. S is in the male section of Ward 12 of the Psychiatric Unit, the only ward at the complex, divided into two sections, the men and the women’s rooms. This is one story that evokes tears, reminiscent of the fallen fortunes of an English football genius by the name Paul Gascoigne, who has battled drug addiction for years, yet he was hailed as one of English football’s greatest players of his generation. For a man, who dazzled in the famous gold and green of the Warriors only years back as he banged spectacular goals, including one memorable one at the National Sports Stadium when the Warriors beat Angola 2-0, to be riddled in such an unfortunate situation, defies description. Kawondera’s career started at Darryn T in 1997 before making Poland his home between 1999 and 2002 where he turned out for Gornik Zarbze, the team which young sensation Andre Gwaze plays for now, before he flew to Cyprus to play for AEP Paphos for another three years. He spent a season in Turkey for Gaziantepspor before coming back to Africa briefly to join South African Premiership club SuperSport United. Still, Kawondera was too good to play in Europe and he returned to Cyprus in 2007 to play for AEK Larnaca for two years before he had stints with Cypriot sides like Nea Salamina, Digenis Morphou, Chalkanoras Idaliou and AEK Kouklia until the year 2012. He last played competitive football at CAPS United in 2012 in a comeback many expected more but delivered less. In the 18 appearances he made for the Warriors, he scored five goals and besides the wonder goal against Angola, there is the one he scored against Algeria in a World Cup/Afcon qualifier on June 19 2005 under hostile conditions in Algiers that will remain engraved in people’s hearts. Kawondera, despite the barrage of racist taunts from the Algerians, found the composure and the presence of mind to equalise for the Warriors to make it 1-1 with the match ending 2-2 after another leveller from the legendary Peter Ndlovu three minutes from time and in what remains one of many vivid images from that match to survive generations, Kawondera celebrated the goal hysterically, hopping like a monkey in response to the Algerian fans who had targeted him with monkey taunts. These are all memories people will vividly recall with heavy hearts and disconsolate disbelief as they realise the man responsible for producing such classic moments of magic in the history of our football, is now confined to psychiatric hospital. Things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse for Kawondera, who was once married to supermodel Mary Mubaiwa and had two kids, after he finished his European adventure as he once intimated that he was broke and had nothing to show for the many seasons he spent jettisoning from one place to another in Europe. Mubaiwa is the daughter of Dynamos chairman Kenny Mubaiwa. At 32, Kawondera, all things being equal, would have been winding down a career with approximately two or three years left in his legs but as it stands, it seems it will be a mere dream to see him rise again from the ashes and wow fans in the stadia as he remains under severe observation at Parirenyatwa Psychiatric Unit. Mental health problem can happen to anyone and wish Kawondera a speedy recovery. Zimbabwe lets pray for hero – Shingi Kawondera. So sad. Get well soon Shingi
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 11:22:13 +0000
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