Chengetai Ditima laid to rest

By Collin Matiza

HUNDREDS of local sports fans and administrators yesterday converged at Mandedza in Seke where they paid their last respects to ZBC sports presenter and commentator Chengetai Ditima who died in Harare on Saturday night at the age of 42.

A likeable character, Ditima — who had been sick for the past two months — died on his way to hospital on Saturday night and was laid to rest yesterday afternoon at his family home village near Mandedza High School.

Tendai Savanhu, the Deputy Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement, led hundreds of mourners who thronged Ditima’s home village at Mandedza where they took Ditima to his final resting place.

And among the mourners were a number of local sports administrators and personalities who were led by the president of the Zimbabwe Handball Federation, Amon Madzvamuse, and Eddie “Mboma” Nyatanga, the leader of the Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association.

Madzvamuse yesterday said the untimely death of Ditima, a former Prince Edward High School pupil, has robbed Zimbabwe of one of its best sports presenters and commentators who helped in the development of sport in this country.

“I, at one stage, worked with Chengetai at ZBC and I remember him as a person who had a passion for sport. Unlike most local sports journalists who have a bias towards football, Chengetai was a versatile reporter who would go out of his way to cover all the sporting disciplines.

“We’ve lost a dedicated sports journalist whose void would be difficult to fill,” Madzvamuse said.

Nyatanga also described Ditima as one of the most respected sports journalists in Zimbabwe “who just loved his sport”.

“I worked with Chenge for a very long time since he joined the ZBC in October 2005 as a sports presenter and commentator, and I could see that he was just a young man who had a passion for sport.

“He was also interested in the development of football in this country hence my regular interaction with him. The Herald