PEOPLE AND PLACES IN THE NEWSLegend whose last days were spent in poverty
Pierre Ndaye Mulamba
PEOPLE AND PLACES IN THE NEWSO
ne of Africa’s
most fearsome
forwards in his
day, Pierre Ndaye
Mulamba holds
the record for the
most goals scored
in an African Nations Cup finals, finding
the target nine times in five games as a
25-year-old when Zaire (now DR Congo)
won the tournament in 1974.
Yet, in life, and especially so in the
years leading up to his demise, he existed
almost entirely as a cautionary tale, a
portrait of how not to treat a legend.
Success at the Nations Cup proved
to be a poisoned chalice, with members
of the squad rewarded with the Order of
Merit, the country’s highest national
honour, plus cars and houses, but also
barred from leaving the country andtherefore unable to pursue a professional
career abroad.
At the 1974 World Cup in Germany, he
was sent off in Zaire’s second game in a
case of mistaken identity after Mwepu
Ilunga aimed a kick at a referee, only for
Mulamba to take the rap.
He retired at 38 and was relatively well
off but still unable to leave the country,
and in 1994 he was awarded a medal byCAF to commemorate his historic goal
haul 20 years prior. But in 1996 armed
men invaded his house in Kinshasa,
demanding money as well as the medal
he had received from CAF. They shot him
twice in the leg and his 11-year-old son,
Jeff, was killed while seeking to intervene.
Mulamba fled to South Africa, but with
no work he drowned his sorrows in beer
and had to survive on the goodwill of
motorists as a parking valet.
Eventually, he met and married Nzwaki
Qeqe. Enjoying an upturn in fortunes, he
declared: “I’m happy here. I’ve freedom- real freedom. There’s a big difference
in my life. Then I was on the street, now
I’m living in a house with a wife.”
However, despite insisting he would
have nothing more to do with his home
country, in 2014 he found his way back
in circumstances that remain unclear.
It proved an ill-fated decision as his
health quickly relapsed. With his heart
and kidneys failing, and his mobility
impaired as a legacy of those gunshot
wounds two decades prior, he spent the
rest of his days in a wheelchair calling on
all and sundry to help him.
Upon his death, he was awarded a
national medal of valour. Yet in a 2009
documentary, Forgotten Gold, he had
lamented: “Compared to others who
also achieved the same thing with their
European countries, they are respected
people, living well.
“Me? It’s as if I have done wrong to
my country.”
Oluwashina Okeleji
has been showered. “I want to thank my
players for the attitude they have shown
in training and their desire to form a
team like you saw today,” said the
42-year-old after the Porto victory.
“I want to thank them because they
are making a coach out of me. I’ve said
the merit is all theirs and what we have
done these past two months has only
been possible because of the work they
are putting in.”
Benfica president Vieira has said that
his biggest regret was sacking Fernando
Santos after a poor run of results in
2007, suggesting that changing coaches
during the season is always a bad idea.
What has happened in the first two
months of 2019 will surely make him
reappraise his position.
It’s early days in the Bruno Lage era,
but Benfica fans are hoping this is just
the start and appointing a new coach is
a task Vieira will not have to consider for
many a long year.
Tom Kundert
Star...Mulamba is on
bottom row, far left
Backing...
Bruno Lage
acknowledges
the Benfica fans
Mulamba existed almost entirely as
a cautionary tale, a portrait of how
not to treat a legend