Freddy Mugadza
| Freddy Mugadza | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Freddy Mugadza June 18, 1977 Sanyati Baptist Hospital, Kadoma |
| Died | April 18, 2020 (aged 42) USA |
| Cause of death | Heart Attack |
| Education | Nyamuzuwe Secondary School |
| Known for | Being the most well known Dynamos fan |
| Successor | Stanford 'Taribo West' Nhau |
| Family | Phillip Mugadza (Elder Brother) |
Freddy Mugadza popularly known as 'Pasuwa' among football fans was a Zimbabwean who was a very passionate Dynamos Football Club fan. He is known for his trademark head bandage.
Background
Mugadza was the last born in a family of eight and was born on 18 June 1977, at Sanyati Baptist Hospital in Kadoma. He was the younger brother to former Dynamos chairman Phillip Mugadza. He grew up in Harare and went to Houghton Park Primary School and Nyamuzuwe Secondary School.[1] He relocated to the United States at the turn of the millennium.
His Passion for Dynamos
He is well known for donning Callisto Pasuwa’s number 9 shirt, and a trademark head bandage, he had a conflicted personality. Mugadza who suffered a heart attack and died over the weekend in the USA was nicknamed Pasuwa because of his obsession with the four-time league championship-winning coach. His wish was to go back home, by the age of 45, and revive Dynamos. He was passionate about players’ welfare. One thing that he managed to do was to unify people through a Facebook page he started. Most of the younger generation of supporters got to know more about yesteryear greats through that page.
Outside football, he was a very friendly person who got along with so many footballers. He was a close friend to CAPS United Football Club players Lloyd Chitembwe and Dumisani Mpofu. Author Lot Chitakasha believes Mugadza believed when football was intense, violence was inevitable and, for that reason, he was just a hooligan to many people. For him, the bigger the rivalry and potential violence, the higher the level of football. Many people had to agree to disagree with him because his position was immovable.
Aside from his bravado, as depicted by his admiration of hard knocks such as the late Kamuzu Banda of Malawi, former Kenya strongman Daniel Arap Moi and Russian’s President Vladimir Putin, he also had a softer side.
There were also times that he made outrageous claims of having received a CAF Champions League silver medal as an honour for his exploits in the stands.
What former players and supporters had to say about him
“I remember one match when I was red-carded towards the end of the match. We were losing 1-0 and as I was arguing with the referee, I saw Mugadza chasing the linesman and the match was subsequently abandoned,” said Memory Mucherahowa.
“It is so sad that he died without fulfilling his dream of one day leading Dynamos. He never wanted to spend the rest of his life in the diaspora, let alone die there,’’ said Mucherahowa.
Pasuwa also revealed why Mugadza always put a bandage on his head when he attended DeMbare games. He said: “That bandage issue was something else. You know, when we played against Eagle Cement of Nigeria in the CAF Champions League in 1998, I was not supposed to play. “I had a nagging groin injury but when the game was hardly five minutes old, I was called into action to replace Tichaona Murehwa, who had limped off with an injury. “Our team doctors had to inject me to suppress the pain on my groin. We won that match 1-0, courtesy of a Lloyd Mutasa goal but not before I injured my head, following a collision with an opponent. My head had to be bandaged. “I was voted man-of-the-match in that game. Mugadza was following and that’s how he came to spot a bandaged head at all Dynamos matches.”[2]
Chris 'Romario' Musekiwa had this to say: "It’s really unbelievable that my my brother and legend Chairman Freddy 'Pasuwa' Mugadza is NOMORE. He was a larger than life character whom I befriended during the Dynamos successful Champions League campaign in 1998. "His first assignment when we met for the first time was to introduce me to the legendary Taribo West. Chairman Freddy Pasuwa was a fearless, no nonsense and die hard Dynamos cheerleader. He was the founding King of Vietnam Stand."
Death
Mugadza died in the United States in April 2020 from a suspected heart attack. He was buried on 24 November 2020 at Glen Forest Memorial Park in Harare.
Trivia
He also had weird views like encouraging women to breast feed their children up to the age of two so that we have players with "stamina". He would usually say, "We are having a stamina crises Directors", on his Facebook page.
A host of yesteryear Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League players had hair cuts done at his brother Phillip Mugadza’s Fabulous hair saloons through his facilitation.
