There was only some staccato information that he had vacated his position as Chief Executive Officer of the Jangwani Street side, but not much else on the ‘whys and where-unto,’ the rich field of considerations leading to his departure.
At the same time, local pundits were not rushing to furnish the reasons or Yanga leaders.
Senzo Hamilton Mazingiza (born on 11 May 1979), nicknamed ‘Senzo Mbatha’ is firstly a South African sports executive and administrator.
While there is neither the local administrator nor sponsor who has worked with the two city rivals save within wider sponsorship of the Premier League, he ranks with a few experts whose services have at different times been solicited by the two rivals in succession.
It is not easy for anyone to be sought for by the two sides in succession as that would be special.
One was former ‘super coach’ the late Syllersaid Mziray, while another is current controversial mobilizer Haji Manara, whose father is a Yanga legend but Haji is himself a Simba SC fan.
He has held either club fan base in a trance, and often tussles with Tanzania Football Federation, as doubtlessly it is also part of the archrivals’ fan base.
The Manara controversy is in a sense a duplication of star player Bernard Morrison, whose difference with the South African administrator is that he started with Yanga and then shifted to Simba SC, and now switches back again.
One can hazard a comparison between Senzo’s departure and Morrison’s return that as a player at the top of his art or thereabouts, he has wider legroom to switch sides, while the hired administrator – and the mobilizer could at most switch sides once.
Their commercial value is a more indefinite quantity while the value of a player is easier to demonstrate, so the club would keep up its pride in a former administrator colleague or mobilizer who is available.
That isn’t easy concerning a good player, so Morrison changes clubs twice as nothing is the matter.
For someone who hasn’t cut his career teeth in the local environment like the other two management acolytes, either Mziray or Manara, Senzo is a strange number.
He cuts the figure of a unique finding in soccer administration, at a time when the clubs are switching from amateur leadership to company formats. He thus fit in quite well.
One lingering question is how it came to pass that both city rivals found the former Orlando Pirates and national organizer in South Africa such a remarkable resource to have stuck with him for several years. At the same time, there is a need to explore possible links between this affinity and the way he fell out with both clubs, how far this has to go with the nature of the job, or a hidden militant character on his part.
After all, he isn’t just an out-of-school administrator but a club resource back home.
What the two clubs may have liked most is his experience not just in top-level clubs in South Africa but organizing international sporting events, where chroniclers see the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2009 and the FIFA World Cup finals in 2010 as the key strategic pieces of experience.
He was in the latter event a deputy tournament director, using his experience in continental club competitions, and after the 2010 tourney, becoming a project manager for the Premier League in South Africa.
He supervised ticketing and security, and later managed Platinum Stars FC, an aspect of the experience that could have attracted Simba SC executives.
While the chroniclers say ‘Mbatha’ guided Simba SC to the local Premier League title in 2019/20 and reached the quarterfinals of the CAF Champions League, the buck wouldn’t stop there.
He was a unique administrative resource for the closest aides of Mohamed Dewji, perhaps the current top administrator in the first place, who wished for a person not tainted with club loyalties and infighting at Msimbazi Street outfit, as even by 2016/17 the ‘Taliban’ group was still very much a menace.
The change came with the fifth phase of cleanup which undermined the traditional power bases in the club to give investor Dewji a free hand to guide it.
What similarly aided the new investor-cum-sponsor was the way the cleanup upended their next street rivals, Yanga, as their principal benefactor was caught up in speculative businesses and tax rows.
After he made a sort of exit for his calm and peace of mind, the club descended a steep ladder in its financing abilities until three years later or so when a company emerged, linked with the club’s highest ranked ardent supporters.
At first, they were interested only in stamping jerseys with their logo, slowly began inching into recruiting players, and finally took over the club in an informal manner, ostensibly waiting for other investors.
Not surprisingly, when ‘Mbatha’ started using his judgment instead of listening, they picked him up from their rivals, and he finally did the same thing.
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