Show some respect!

Kindly allow me to digress a little bit from football today. I had a serious argument with a fellow co-worker on Monday morning because of what I felt was disrespect. This co-worker, I felt, was not showing enough respect to the late Mr Victor Gamedze, the slain Mbabane Swallows boss who died on Sunday evening. There is no need to go into the details of the particular disagreement but because of how much I’ve seen of the same kind of ‘disrespect’ on social media, I think it’s only right that I write about it.

 

Firstly, let me get this out there. I wasn’t a personal friend of Mr Gamedze. I only knew him in a professional capacity, that of him being a football administrator and me, a journalist. So, obviously we crossed paths quite a lot. That’s where the relationship ended however.It is important too to note that Mr Gamedze had his flaws, like all of us. I disagreed with some of his decisions, some pertaining to his running of the PLS.He had mistakes, lots of them.

Lest we forget, Gamedze gave so much to Swazi football as well. He gave so much to the whole nation in fact. Through Mbabane Swallows, he gave Swaziland the closest we’ve come to sports professionalism as a country. Through MvTel and Swazi Mobile, he opened up so many job opportunities for Swazis as well as business opportunities.

There’s so much we can write about. It is important to remember too that Gamedze leaves behind a family. He leaves behind a wife, children, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles. He leaves behind friends and relatives. The pain these people are feeling right now is incomprehensible. Which is why then, I believe, we need to show a little bit more respect as a nation to them and to the late Gamedze.

We are Swazis. We are Africans and it is an African golden rule to respect the dead. We are not just respecting Mr Gamedze but his family as well. The people who have lost a loved one- those people do not deserve the cruelty with which some of us have dealt with Maradona’s demise. Imagine if it happened to you. Imagine if it happened to a loved one. No, I’m not trying to guilt trip anyone but in siSwati we say, “linceba lendvodza alihlekwa,” which basically means “do not laugh at another man’s pain.” There is another saying which goes, “lisondvo liyagicika,” which means that life is never constant, one day you are on top and the next down and out.

These sayings remind us of the importance of reflecting, doing some introspections and going back to who we really are as a people. Do we really want to be the nation remembered for celebrating the death of a national icon? Instead, how about we celebrate his legacy. Let us give Maradona the sending off he deserves. Let us let him rest in peace. I certainly hope you rest in peace Madlenya.