MZWANDILE LUNGILE BUNGANE

Left winger of KwaZakhele, harbour shunter at Transnet, and coach to a thousand boys

Even in his seventies, Mzwandile Bungane could not walk past a ball without touching it. A boy would kick one towards him in a street in KwaZakhele, and Mzwandile, knees complaining, would flick it back with the outside of his left foot and a small smile.

Born in Peddie in 1946, the son of a farm labourer, he came to Port Elizabeth at sixteen and found work at the harbour, first as a labourer and then, from 1966, as a shunter with the South African Railways and Harbours. He would remain on the harbour for forty years as that employer became Transnet, working the rail yards alongside the cranes that loaded the Eastern Cape's citrus and wool.

On Saturday afternoons he was Magic, the left winger for the Red Lions of KwaZakhele, a man so quick over ten yards that opposing full-backs gave up and turned to watch. He once received a trial from a visiting Orlando Pirates side and, he joked, never forgave the selector who sent him home. He captained the Red Lions from 1970 to 1978, hung up his boots, and began to coach the boys of the township.

For four decades he ran Saturday morning training on a patch of gravel behind the Methodist church, with kit he bought himself, and sent several boys to professional clubs, including one who played for Chippa United. He married Nomvuyo Tyali in 1974. He loved umngqusho with a little sour milk, Methodist hymns in isiXhosa, and the sound of a ball against a wall.

Magic died in February 2026, after a short illness. He leaves his wife, three children and ten grandchildren, and a township full of men who learned to pass.

“Pass before you are asked. The team will always find a way to thank you.”