The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Kusema
Deputy Sports Editor
THE Chingoka brothers, Paul and Peter, remain one of the most recognisable names in Zimbabwean sport even years after both died in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Listed among the famous Zimbabwean sporting families who include the Ndlovu brothers, Madinda, Adam and Peter, the Black siblings Byron, Wayne and Cara and Chidzambwa brothers Sunday and Misheck, such is the huge shadow that Peter and Paul leave behind, that it is almost easy to forget that there are actually five other Chingoka siblings.
One such Chingoka sibling is Douglas.
Their father (Douglas Snr), was a sub-inspector in the Rhodesian police force — the British South Africa Police — and later a deputy commissioner in the Zimbabwe Republic Police from 1980.
It is their upbringing that the younger Chingoka credits for his siblings’ rich sporting history.
“I come from a family of seven, and we were all very sporty,” said Douglas Chingoka.
“My father was a policeman, and we were all exposed to sport very early in our lives.
“Every game that was played at the police grounds . . . rugby, soccer, cricket, tennis and basketball- we watched and played,” he said.
All the Chingoka siblings took different paths with Peter and Paul, the more famous of the seven, making names for themselves in cricket and tennis.
Patrick, the eldest, and Bonnie both showed an interest in football, while the girls Patricia and Petronella took a shine to netball and hockey.
Douglas, however, played most of all these sports, but is probably best remembered for his exploits in football and basketball.
He is an unsung Dynamos legend of sorts as he is credited for being one of the founding members of the Dynamos Basketball Club.
For many Dynamos’ basketball team is known as Cavaliers today, but it has gone through different shapes starting off as an offshoot of the Young Men’s Christian Association’s (YMCA) Mbare base.
It then took up the name in 1981, when Chingoka and a few of his teammates approached Dynamos for sponsorship.
“A number of us were playing for YMCA, based in Mbare, we were struggling financially as it was hard to train, travel for matches and things like that.
“Now, it happened that, at the time, I was good friends with Mukoma Shepherd Murape who was the Dynamos coach at the time.
“I mentioned to him our grievances, and he offered to talk to the guys at BAT, who at the time were sponsoring Dynamos Football Club, and it didn’t take long before he got back to me with some good news.
“They came in and offered to sponsor us, coming in with a full sponsorship that encompassed allowances, a kit and transport.
“The catch was that we had to change our name, and that, in nutshell, is how we became to be known as Dynamos Basketball Club,” he said.
The team, which encompassed players from high-density suburbs like Mbare, Mufakose, and Highfield to name but a few, did not have many championships but was a common denominator in the Super Cup which was a variation of today’s BUZ National League.
What that club lacked in titles, it made up with some recognised names.
Among them are the likes of Felix Galloway, Edgar Rodgers and Orlando Conde who all coached the team before it changed names to Tee and then later Kingdom Cavaliers.
The likes of Lucas Masawi, Dean Gilberts, Mike and Raphael Musamba, Gibson Tembo, Andrew Zengeni, Lishon Chipango, Brown Kapuya, Eustace Glass, James Chieza, Ernie Noble, Palmer De Souza, Victor Mpingo and Nigel Chanakira are some the players that passed through Dynamos Basketball Club.
While Chingoka’s stay at Dynamos was short-lived- as he moved to Knickerbockers, before leaving basketball for football- one of the team’s most celebrated captains Lucas Masawi remembers his time with the club with nostalgia.
In fact, it pains Masawi, now in his 60s, that Dynamos’ basketball legacy seems to have been either forgotten or simply erased.
“It makes me sad that Dynamos Basketball Club does not get the credit and acknowledgement it deserves; we worked hard to revolutionise basketball for black people here in Zimbabwe, some are reaping the rewards of our efforts today.
“We worked hard, and deserve our stories to be told,” Masawi said.
Still, Masawi understands the politics of sport, and has chosen to reflect on the good, and memorable, rather than things he cannot change.
Now based in Botswana, Masawi often meets up with another former Dynamos son, Mike Musamba, to trade war stories and occasionally relive the glory days on the courts.
“Among my favourite moments were our games against Arcadia Bucs, which was a big team during our days, and beating them was always a highlight,” said Musamba.
“I would like to believe that we carried the Dynamos name with distinction, because after the club’s formation Highlanders followed suit and came up with their own team (Highlanders Basketball Club).
“Prior to the formation of Dynamos and Highlanders basketball clubs, the sport was dominated by whites and coloureds.
“We became trailblazers of sorts,” he said.
During Masawi and Musamba’s time, Dynamos played and formed rivalries with teams like Knicks, Bucs, 76ers, Quakers and later Varsity.
