Temba Mliswa: Coach, Con-Man

Temba Mliswa: Coach, Con-Man

THEMBA Mliswa

Are you a victim of Themba Mliswa's scams? We want to hear from you. E-mail newsdesk@newzimbabwe.com

By Foster Niumata

WHEN Temba Mliswa came to RugbyMagazine's offices 11 years ago, he seemed to be the answer to many prayers.

He was a rugby coach.

He was 22, intelligent, ambitious and had a broad knowledge of rugby. He talked of wanting to learn as much about rugby as possible so he could go home to Zimbabwe and help the growing black rugby population, which he said was ill served by the white-dominated Zimbabwe Rugby Union. It was politically correct talk, and Temba’s enthusiasm and Zimbabwe’s dismal rugby record made him a person one would be eager to help.

Prior to coming to the US, Mliswa had talked his way into an invitation to England, where he set up his coaching credentials. He subsequently received a free three-month rugby education in New Zealand, and then accepted an invitation to come to the United States to pass on his wisdom.

Here in the US, as in the United Kingdom, his coaching was helpful and appreciated.

But too late, it was discovered that his rugby skills were wrapped in a web of deception and immaturity, spun out of a shyster mind on a forked tongue.

And after he suddenly disappeared from the United States, leaving a trail of debts with those he had become involved, including RugbyMagazine, the publication kept a distant eye on his life of deceit.

Mliswa’s story is a cautionary tale of trust and betrayal in which rugby was one of the losers.

According to Mliswa, he was lucky to attend a mixed-race junior school in Harare, Zimbabwe, where he learned to play rugby. Temba said he began playing at eight, captained his high school, and ultimately earned Zimbabwe Under-21 honors.

When renowned English public school Harrow toured Zimbabwe, Mliswa met its coach, former British Lion and England Grand Slam coach Roger Uttley. Uttley invited Mliswa to England during the 1991 World Cup to become a qualified coach.

Mliswa passed the English coaching tests, and Uttley used his influence to secure Mliswa coaching stints with Harrow, Eton and London Wasps Under-18s – names that stand out on any resume.

For more practical experience, Mliswa found work at Middlesex Division III club Feltham and English South West Division II side Marlow. There he was contacted by another acquaintance, Ed Burrell of New York’s White Plains RFC, which had toured Zimbabwe. Burrell informed Mliswa there was a coaching job available at the all-Japanese Keio Academy in Purchase, NY. Mliswa accepted, but first went to New Zealand as a guest of the NZRFU for a three-month crash course in coaching.

Mliswa started coaching at Keio in August of 1993, and parlayed his experience and press clippings from English rugby magazines and small-town newspapers into simultaneous coaching roles at Manhattanville College and the Village Lions RFC in New York.

Mliswa then came to RugbyMagazine, armed with a resume that glowed with famous names and press clippings. Impressed by his clippings and the fact that young Mliswa was simultaneously coaching three different New York clubs, this magazine ran a full-page story on the Harare charmer in March 1994 under the headline "Born to Coach," which unwittingly contributed to his scam plans.

Mliswa did and said the right things. On the disappointing support for US high school and college programs, he said, "I only wish there could be 100 Tembas to help out. It’s a pity I can’t be in 100 places at one time."

His ambition, however, outran his mouth and wallet in August 1994, when he took a select squad of 11-to-14-year-olds from New York to the AAU Junior Olympics at Satellite Beach, Florida. He mistakenly believed the tournament would provide a sponsor. Then he vainly thought he could find a sponsor, and finally ended up borrowing money from parents and friends.

"One coach described Mliswa as 'a snake oil salesman' and another said he was a "smash-and-grab artist'"

FOSTER NIUMATA

Temba’s team finished fifth or sixth in its six-team division and while Mliswa was credited as a good coach, he was slammed as an irresponsible tour leader, who wasn’t worthy of parents’ trust. Managers of other tournament teams said Mliswa told the kids not to listen to their parents, and allowed them out unsupervised until 3 am. One coach described Mliswa as "a snake oil salesman" and another said he was a "smash-and-grab artist" out to "add something to his resume."

Mliswa failed to pay for his squad’s jerseys, and unable or unwilling to pay his $1,100+ hotel bill - including a $300 charge for damages - persuaded former Rugby editor Andy Koepfler to cover his hotel bill with a credit card. The payback check to Koepfler bounced, as did Mliswa.

In a huge financial hole, Mliswa suddenly quit Keio, one step ahead of bill collectors and angry alumni, and he also left Manhattanville with debts of $2,800.

He returned home to Zimbabwe and like most con artists, found other avenues to exploit.

He became a fitness trainer for the national soccer team, then a member of the national soccer association’s technical committee, which was dissolved, and a director of development and coaching at the Zimbabwe Rugby Union. Worst of all, he joined the ruling Zanu-PF party and became one of the most outspoken supporters of corrupt President Robert Mugabe.

Back in London in 2001, Mliswa ran a recruitment agency, Education UK Ltd that promised placement for Zimbabweans anxious to enter the United Kingdom for a registration fee of 100 pounds. The company purportedly specialized in the recruitment of students, teachers and nurses but at least nine of Mliswa’s clients were deported back to Zimbabwe in February of 2001 alone; and none of them received a refund. Mliswa finally ran afoul of British immigration officials, who closed down his con and kicked him out of Britain in 2002.

Before he was forced home, he formed a pressure group in Zimbabwe called Pioneers of Black Cricket, which aimed to increase black representation in the national cricket team.

After Mugabe decided in 1999 that whites had to give up their farms and land to impoverished blacks, Mliswa finally joined the land grab. In January of 2003, he led a gang takeover of a farm owned by Alan and Jenny Parsons, assaulting Jenny and threatening to kill the family if it returned. The Parsons family remained displaced even when they later returned with police.

When the Parsons visited their property with police three months later to take stock of inventory, they were attacked by Mliswa and his gang, one of whom pulled the trigger of an unloaded rifle against the head of Alan Parsons.

He ran unsuccessfully for chairman of the Zimbabwe Football Association, and earlier this year, a plan by a new Mliswa company to open a soccer academy in Zimbabwe was scuttled. The chief Belgian investor withdrew because Mliswa failed to provide a budget for the proposal and was too busy "farming."

In September of this year, some semblance of retribution fell on Mliswa. He was allegedly manhandled and had his car damaged by a group of men in the town of Karoi and he later vacated what was now considered his farm "following threats by some unknown people". Following his departure, newspapers reported "massive theft of farm equipment" from Mliswa’s Spring Farm in Karoi.
RugbyMagazine
JOIN THE DEBATE ON THIS ARTICLE ON THE NEWZIMBABWE.COM FORUMS
newsdesk@newzimbabwe.com