The Sunday Mail
Veronica Gwaze
FOR most of the Zimbabwe Gems players, gracing the World Cup stage is the fulfilment of a cherished dream, a chance to make history and fly the nation’s flag high.
But for Beauty Sithole, it is all that and so much more.
Yes, it’s a dream come true, a chance to make history but sadly it is also a reminder that she has never met her mother.
A late inclusion into the World Cup squad, the Lupane State University winger wishes she had her mother wave her goodbye when she flies off to England for the Netball jamboree. “I have no idea what my mother looks like and don’t even have a single memory of her, but I still yearn it could be her that I wave goodbye to when we leave for Liverpool,” said Sithole.
“This (late inclusion) came as a dream and any girl would tell that it is their mother that would want to share that news with or at the very least have at court side watching, cheering and smiling. “I wish I had a contact saved as mom in my phone, or have a mother I could buy a simple pair of shoes with my netball earnings,” she said.
The tragic part of Sithole’s story — or ‘Dhaiza’ as she is known within netball circles — is that not only has she never felt that feeling, she may never will.
Sithole’s mother abandoned her when she was still a toddler, leaving her and her little brother with nothing but the name “Sithokozile Dube”.
“My mother left without a trace when me and my younger brother were still toddlers,” the Gems Winger said.
“We do not have any connections to her; her relatives or even have a single memory of her. “I am sure she wouldn’t even recognise us if we are to meet or bump into each in town or somewhere,” revealed Sithole.
Growing up under the care of a stepmother, Sithole said her upbringing was tough.
Her father’s second marriage was not rosy at all and while he was away working at Blanket Mine in Gwanda, the duo often felt the brunt of growing up as step-chidlren.
“At one point, my stepmother threatened to poison me and my father and so we had to be moved to stay with our grandmother in rural Gwanda,” she recollects.
Attending Daisy Primary and Secondary schools, Sithole started playing netball in grade five. The sport took her to Blanket Mine under the juniors and by the time she was in grade seven, she graduated into the senior team.
“Having found home in the senior team, I had to relocate Bulawayo where I then joined Golden Girls although they were not very active.
“It was tough at first but in 2014, at one of our local games, Lupane State University coach Prosper Mubayiwa identified and signed me on his team,” she recollects.
By 2015, she was already one of the key players.
On her call up into the Gems world cup squad, Sithole said; “It came as a surprise, I was not expecting it considering where I came from.
“Hearing about the Gems call-up gave me chills and it still hasn’t sunk in,” said Sithole.
Sithole is also avid Dynamos supporter and training in the vicinity of Rufaro stadium means so much to the winger.
