Eddie Nyatanga

Wife

Eddie Nyatanga is married. His wife's name is unknown at the moment.^[3]

Children

Eddie Nyatanga has a daughter named Thandeka.^[3]

Second Chimurenga Contribution

Nyatanga was in Zambia during the liberation struggle together with Joel Biggie Matiza.^[4]

Education

He holds a degree in Business Studies acquired in Nigeria. It is in Nigeria that Nyatanga got the idea of forming a supporters association.^[5]

Career

He once worked in Government as a director in the exports and import department.^[5]

ZNSSA

Nyatanga is the co-founder of the Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association (ZNSSA). In March 2019, he stepped down as ZNSSA president and took a ceremonial role as the founding president of the organisation. His decision came after ZNSSA and the Friends of the Warriors ended years of acrimony by agreeing to work together.^[6]

The Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association was formed together with Cephas Msipa Jnr as president, deputised by Nyatanga while the late Matiza and Coleman Majaya were committee members.^[4]

Five-a-side Football

Nyatanga was one of the few individuals that were at the forefront in the promotion of five-a-side football in Zimbabwe together with Joel Biggie Matiza, Cephas Msipa Jnr and Steve “MP” Nyoka in the mid-1990s. He had his own team called BMC Bombers and Cephas Msipa Jnr was his major sponsor. Together with Msipa and Matiza, Nyatanga put together a team that went to Egypt and won a bronze medal in a World Cup qualifier in September 1996.^[4]

Net Worth

Nyatanga is a self-proclaimed millionaire. He told The Sunday Mail that he made his first million dollars five years after Zimbabwe's independence.^[5]

Sports and Recreation Commission Lawsuit

In 2019, Eddie Nyatanga took Sports minister Kirsty Coventry to court, alleging that she erred in appointing a Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) director-general and in denying Zimbabwe an opportunity to host the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) tournament.

In his application filed at the High Court on 1 March 2019 under case number 1650/19, Nyatanga sought to invalidate the appointment of SRC director-general Prince Mupazviriho, whose appointment Nyatanga said violated section 24 of the Sports and Recreation Commission Act (Chapter 25:15).

Nyatanga also wanted an order declaring Coventry’s pronouncement that Zimbabwe was incapable of hosting the Cosafa 2019 edition null and void, saying what she had said was “unlawful, invalid and in contravention of the minister’s powers in terms of the SRC Act”.^[7]

Testing Positive For Covid-19

Nyatanga tested positive for Covid-19 in August 2020. He went for testing after feeling weak and generally unwell and was advised on 5 August 2020 he had tested positive for Covid-19. Eddie Nyatanga then went into a mandatory 14-day quarantine.^[8]

Accident

On 27 August 2020, Eddie Nyatanga escaped unhurt from a car crash in Harare. He told The Herald that his car was hit by a water delivery vehicle in the Highlands area. Nyatanga said he was coming from conducting an interview with a local media organisation that had been following his battle against Covid-19. His Mercedes Benz suffered extensive damage.^[9]

References