FORMER goalkeeper Martin Mwamba has opened up about the emotional trauma he had to overcome before agreeing to join the reconstructed national team following the Gabon air disaster, which claimed the crème de la crème of the country’s soccer luminaries.
In 1993, Mwamba’s life was forever changed.
Events of April 28 that year will always be etched in his memory as he could have been part of the people that perished in the plane crash on the way to Dakar for a 1994 USA FIFA World Cup qualifier against Senegal.
On the day of the trip on April 27, Mwamba received news that he and former midfielder Andrew Tembo were dropped from the team.
He was devastated that he didn’t make the cut but little did he know that this decision would save his life.
On Sunday, April 25, 1993 Zambia trounced Mauritius 3 – 0 in Port Louis in a 1994 Tunisia Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with striker Kelvin ‘Malaza’ Mutale netting a hat-trick.
The following day, the team flew back to Lusaka for a night stopover and on April 27, journey to Senegal via Gabon was embarked on.
18 players, two coaches a doctor, two Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) officials, a government representative, a journalist and five Zambia Air Force (ZAF) personnel did not reach Senegal, and the rest is history.
The ZAF Buffalo plane plunged in the Atlantic Ocean in Libreville, killing all 30 people on board.
“The day the team was leaving for Senegal, we were with Andrew Tembo, and we were dropped at Masiye Executive Lodge,” Mwamba who is goalkeeper trainer at Power Dynamos recalls.
That same day, he left Lusaka for Kitwe.
“I reached Kitwe around midnight, then in the morning my wife woke me up saying ‘ba Zambia nabafwa mu ndeke’ [the national team players and officials have died in a plane crash], I was confused, I turned on the radio, and I heard the news.” Mwamba says.
Mwamba says because most people were unaware that he had been dropped from the squad and never travelled, people gathered at his parents’ home in Luanshya and held a funeral.
“People in Luanshya went to my parent’s place nokuteka ichililo [held a funeral]. They did not know that I was not part of the team that travelled, so they were shocked to hear that I am in Kitwe,” he recalls.
He recalls a moment when he ran away from the national team hotel when the FAZ had started reconstructing a new squad after the disaster.
Mwamba says he couldn’t bring himself to join the team moments just after the tragedy of losing his teammates.
The trauma of losing his friends was too much to bear, and he knew he couldn’t move on so quickly.
“I was called when they had started reconstructing the team but I did not go there because I was in shock, I asked for more time. What happened was like losing a spouse, pardon the example, but if your wife dies today, you cannot marry tomorrow.
“The time we were supposed to travel to Denmark for some preparations, I escaped from the team hotel at Nkana Hotel because I was not ready to move on,” Mwamba recalls.
Mwamba was later to compose himself and joined the team for the rest of the preparations for the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia, where Zambia managed to finish second.
With regular goalkeeper James Phiri injured, Mwamba was between the sticks when Zambia walloped Mali 4-0 in a semi – final clash.
He called time to his playing career in 1998 before taking up goalkeeper coaching roles.
Mwamba has trained shot stoppers at defunct Nkwiza, Nkana, Mufulira Wanderers, Indeni and now Power.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
