RESPECTED veteran football administrator Ndumiso Gumede has died.
He was 76.
The ex-Zifa president passed away in Bulawayo from suspected hypertension problems.
His death comes barely a week after Highlanders Football Club, where he once served as chairman, hosted a special function at the club’s offices in Bulawayo on December 22 to celebrate his life and immense contribution to the club.
Popularly known in football circles as Gumz or Yours Truly, Gumede, also a former schoolteacher, served Highlanders in various capacities, as chairman, chief executive officer and as club president, a position he held at the time of his death.
During his tenure as Highlanders chairman, Gumede, who also served as the club’s chief executive officer, is credited with acquiring the club offices, the sports club and a camping house in Bulawayo’s Luveve suburb.
He also held a number of posts at the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA), where he was a former vice-president, chief executive officer and committee member.
He is also credited for helping expose the widely publicised Asiagate scandal, the biggest match fixing scandal to rock Zimbabwean football during his.
At one time, he was a member of the Caf appeals committee.
Born on 14 October 1945 in Bulawayo at the end of the Second World War, Gumede grew up in Mzilikazi’s R square 62. Gumede’s involvement with Highlanders dates back to 1974 when he was the club’s representative in the then Salisbury.
Gumede has been married twice and divorced the same number of times. His first marriage was from 1973 to 1987. He married his second wife in 1992 and they went separate ways in 1994.
He has twin boys with his first wife, one son from his second marriage and another daughter with a Harare woman he had a relationship with in between his two marriages.
