FROM AN UNDOCUMENTED WORKER IN CAPE TOWN TO A MIAMI HOME FROM THE ROCK: THE ZIMBABWEAN STORY THAT TOUCHED THE WORLD
Before the fame, before the UFC lights, before the millions of viewers, Themba Gorimbo’s life was a daily struggle for survival — and part of that struggle was lived in South Africa.
As a young Zimbabwean trying to escape poverty, Gorimbo crossed into South Africa without papers and settled in Cape Town. Like many migrants, he took whatever work he could find to stay alive. He worked as a gardener, a painter, and even as a security guard. At one point, he was sleeping in poor conditions, moving from place to place, holding onto a dream that seemed impossible.
It was in Cape Town that a white South African employer gave him a chance, steady work, and human dignity. Gorimbo has often spoken with gratitude about this boss, saying that without that support, he might never have survived long enough to chase his fighting dream. The money he earned helped him train, eat, and eventually make his way to the United States.
Even in America, the struggle did not end. After one of his early UFC wins, his bank balance showed just over seven dollars. With no home, he slept on a couch at a gym, training by day and resting there by night.
That story reached Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who recognised his own past in Gorimbo’s pain. Moved by the journey of a man who refused to give up, Johnson bought the Zimbabwean fighter a house in Miami in 2023.
From being undocumented in South Africa, doing manual labour to survive, to owning a home in the USA through global recognition — Gorimbo’s life has become a symbol of how far resilience can carry a person.
It is also another example of a Zimbabwean whose story has captured world attention, raising the same question many are now asking:
What is it about Zimbabweans, their hunger, their mindset, their refusal to quit, that keeps placing them on the global stage?