Soccer legend reminisces on the general and and th...

Soccer legend reminisces on the general and and the toilet keys

Japhet “Short Cat” Muparutsa

At Black Rhinos , we were the envy of many Zimbabwe football teams. We were spoiled , we had nice kits, we trained full time and apart from the winning bonuses , we were also paid a monthly salary.

Yes , we worked hard but we were also well looked after..

The Mercedes Benz bus we received from Zimoco was the icing on the cake. It was a bus befitting of a professional team . It was spacious, was equipped with a fridge and yes it had a toilet!

Let me talk about the toilet.

On our first trip , we travelled to Mutare . Army General Solomon Mujuru travelled with the team. He loved football and on many away trips , he often came along. We even went with him to Zambia when we played against b Power Dynamos, but that is a story for another day.

On this trip to Mutare,he was indulging himself with his favourite drink, John Walker whisky.

After a while, he asked for a recess. The driver was surprised and instead of stopping, he gave the General the toilet keys.

I am not sure if The General knew that the bus had a toilet inside. But he took the keys, went to the toilet , came out and locked the door.

We continued with the journey.

"Recess please Driver!" he called out after a few kilometres.

This time the driver stopped at the next layby. General Mujuru and a few others stepped off the bus. They did their business and came back.

There were microphones fitted in the bus for easy communication. General Mujuru went to the front and started speaking..

" Attention everyone, the driver gave me the keys but when we stopped at the last layby, I threw them away! " he said.

We could not believe what we were hearing..

"This bus is too nice, I will not allow you to mess it up by using the toilet!" he finished with a chuckle.

That was it! I spent 6 years at Back Rhinos , we used that bus every weekend,believe me,I never saw the inside of the toilet. None of my teammates did!

The keys were in the bush somewhere between Harare and Mutare!

What a funny guy General Mujuru!

MHSRIP...he loved Black Rhinos but to be fair that was "a moment of madness " from the Good General!

Japhet “Short Cat” Muparutsa is a soccer legend who played for Dynamos and Black Rhino, among many other clubs. He was also the Warriors First choice goalkeeper. Currently, he resides in the United Kingdom and writes in his personal capacity