There is more to Alum Mpofu than his gay status

By Sibanengi Dube

Interest in the late Mberengwa South MP Alum Mpofu’s salacious lifestyle re-emerged this Sunday when news of his death started filtering from Masvingo. The Zanu PF legislator’s death plunged his constituency into mourning.

Hate or love him, Mpofu was fancied by his constituents. His fame cut across the political divide. Although he drove sleek cars in the fast lane and lived a high life, the former headmaster was generous, simple and accessible.

He was, however, a drama queen in all aspects. The former SABC boss was a happy fellow who never gave a hoot about what people thought about him. He was a focused forward mover, smooth talker with unlimited capacity to dribble through difficult situations.

In life, people whispered behind the lawmaker’s back about his sexual orientation and in his death the same murmurs grew louder. There is, however, more to the dear departed than that aspect of his private life, which he was not apologetic about anywhere.

At 24, Mpofu became the head of Makuva Secondary School in the early 1980s, injecting a period of verve in the education fraternity in Mberengwa. In the process, he produced doctors, accountants and renowned teachers. Some of his few shining stars are Mfandaedza Hove, a researcher at American Anglo-Gold in Johannesburg, South Africa, Canada Malunga, a managing director with one of the leading banks in Zimbabwe and Trouble Moyo, the current head of Makuva High School.

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Not only did he overhaul the academic performance of his school, but Mpofu changed the complexion of high school soccer tournaments in Mberengwa district as a whole.

The ever-giggling Mpofu professionalised the game by introducing a dosage of high-profile soccer players into his school team. Mpofu recruited soccer wizards from the asbestos-mining town of Zvishavane and offered them scholarships in exchange for their talent. He was the first headmaster in Mberengwa to hire a fulltime soccer coach, Duncan Chiboko.

Makuva Secondary School soccer team, which produced Premier Soccer League players like Nana Banda, Thankido, Joackim, Mawale and Bobo, was only stopped from snatching the national Chibhuku Trophy in 1987 by the death of a student. It was a marvel for the community to watch a match between Makuva and Chegato High School — another soccer powerhouse in the district.

The annual clash of the two soccer giants at Mataga Growth Point became a prominent feature on the Mberengwa community calendar.

Mpofu was far from being the reserved and conservative person he became a few years before his demise. Instead, apart from being smart, articulate and eloquent, the diminutive Mpofu was full of energy, controversy and confidence. He would always hide behind humour when put on the spot.

There was never a dull moment with him. He was controversial. I lived closely with Mpofu in 1999 when I found myself on the streets of Johannesburg where he was working for SABC 2 as research manager.

As a cousin brother, he offered me very comfortable accommodation at his mansion in Centurion along Rhodesianteak Street. As he was well-connected and respected in the media, it did not take him long before he got me my first job with Sowetan newspaper where I freelanced for a few months before getting a fulltime job with media24. Even though Mpofu was secretive with his lifestyle, he allowed me to peep into the other side of his life.

I shall forever be grateful for the assistance he gave me and many other Zimbabweans who found refuge at his home. He would at times take four to six Zimbabweans under his wings and assist them with accommodation and securing employment or work permits.

For the four months I stayed with him, I never heard or witnessed any moment he abused the young men or women he looked after. Instead, handsome South African gays were running after him. He would not shy away from introducing them to me especially after a few glasses of cold Hansa.

He was living a fast life of pleasure in Johannesburg. Most of his days would start with business during the day and end with drinking sessions in Hillbrow, Braamfontein, and Pretoria.

“If I become President of Zimbabwe, CIOs would have to guard all bars because I won’t confine myself to the State House as I enjoy the vibe in pubs,” quipped Mpofu during some of the numerous drinking sessions I had with him. Of course, he had presidential ambitions. In his world nothing was impossible.

He was a free-spirited bird with genuine interest in hundreds of people he would rub shoulders with every night. We would hop from one bar to another until the wee hours of the night. He had no problem engaging in low-key bar chats with anyone.

Apart from that, Mpofu was so generous with the contents of his wallet. Most Zimbabweans we met during these night escapades drank from his calabash. It was during such errands that he would open up and tell me about his lifestyle.

At one moment, he even gave me a long list of gay Zanu PF leaders, who I will not mention now, except for the late nationalist Nathan Shamuyarira.

“I just hope he (Shamuyarira) is the male one, because there will be a challenge if he is the female one,” he quipped sarcastically.

“You know what, I am a woman trapped in a man’s body and there is nothing I can do about it,” he would own up before flashing his signature smile. He was known as Mama Kadzamira in his circle of gay friends.

He, however, occasionally introduced himself as Lillian at their events. Ironically, he loved and respected his wife, Mai George, whom he had been married to for more than three decades. Mpofu was a committed family man who looked after his mother and sponsored the education of his siblings.

His wife, siblings and children had long come to terms with his gay status. Even though he was aware of the stigma and obsession people had about his sexual orientation, he would make fun about everything to do with that subject.

At one moment, I asked him how he expected to win parliamentary elections on a Zanu PF ticket with gay stigma hanging over his head, but he brushed it off saying that would not stop him from pursuing his dreams.

Mpofu was likeable. He was the kind of headmaster, business manager or MP who would park his 4×4 German-made sedan in a village and spend the whole day fraternising with villagers, quaffing opaque beer with village elders.

At one moment, I was tempted to believe that he would be trying to garner votes, until my mother, who was his aunt told me that Mpofu was always like that even before joining active politics.

Even though he was Zanu PF to the core, the former ZBC boss was not an acidic devotee of the ruling party. Instead, he was even prepared to consider joining other political parties.

Violence dropped beyond detectable levels in Mberengwa when he emerged the preferred Zanu PF candidate. He cared less about party labels, but more about his political ambitions.

Unlike his Zanu PF colleagues, Mpofu remained a friend of his MDC Alliance counterpart Davies Shoko in the July 2018 polls.

In 2019, I had a fallout with Mpofu after he ordered a local clinic to return benches, mattresses and bandages which my brother, Thembinkosi Dube, a former MDC-Alliance council candidate had donated.

He then called me and promised to accept the donations at an appropriate time. He, however, died before collecting the donations which are gathering dust in our rural home.

The late legislator had an inglorious exit from ZBC after he was allegedly caught in a gay sexual act at a popular nightclub in Harare’s avenues area. He, however, dismissed the incident as a set-up by journalists who trolled him to the rest room.

The former MP, who died at the age of 63, went to Manama High School in Matabeleland South for his secondary education.

He had a brief stint at the University of Zimbabwe before being expelled for political activities.

He was then awarded a Zanu PF scholarship to study linguistics at a Sierra Leone university.

He returned to Zimbabwe after 1980 to teach at Mandava High School in Zvishavane before being posted to Mberengwa to head Makuva Secondary School.

Rest in peace Mhofu!

•  Sibanengi Dube is the publisher of Zimbabwe Observer. He writes here in his personal capacity.