A REPOST: IF PATRIOTISM WAS A PERSON: IT WOULD BE CALLED WISDOM CHANSA!
By Musonda Ba Muzo Chibulu
â– Chansa had come from South Africa to organise marital matters but was drafted into the K11 and met his death in the 1993 disaster
In 1992, Wisdom Chansa and his two national team mates Robert Watyakeni and Sameul Chomba were snapped up by South Africa club Dynamos.
In April, the KK 11 squad was called up for upcoming matches. Chansa was conspicuous by his absence.
Arriving at the now KK International airport for a family marital matter- it was said that he had come back to fetch his better half.
“Ah, Wiz, you need to join the national squad,” he was told at the airport.
Today, if he had offered excuses and showed bitterness for being left out initially and refused to join he would be alive!
If patriotism was a person, it would be called Wisdom Chansa.
He came to the fore in 1982 part of the Power Dynamos squad that included late GABON disaster coach Alex Chola, he whose club career was ended in a lunging tackle by Whiteson Changwe in 1987, Peter “Abaleya” Kaumba, Lucky Msiska and co that reached the 1983 final of the now equivalent CAF Confederation Cup.
He was only 19 at the time. A year later Power Dynamos won its first league title.
Chansa played his first Africa Cup for Zambia in 1986 in Egypt with a young Kalusha Bwalya excelling.
Many will recall the beautiful goal he scored as part of the KK11 that eliminated a star-studded Ghana 2-1 on aggregate to qualify to the famous 1988 Seoul Olympics.
The KK11 won 2-0 at a packed to the rafters Independence Stadium with Kalusha scoring the other goal.
The likes of Msiska, Charles Musonda , Stone Nyirenda and Kalusha were based abroad.
But there two players who played at home at the time who we called “local pros.”
Chansa and Derby Makinka. In fact, for Chansa, he was called by Dennis Liwewe as “Summer Bee” after some British footie star for his prowess as an attacking number 10 star.
“Summer Bee” was a common and popular Chansa monikor among the Power faithful (notice we don’t say “FAITHFULS).
He reached cult hero status at Arthur Davies Stadium after guiding Power Dynamos to the 1991 Mandela Cup as skipper.
The first and only Zambian club to win a continental club crown todate.
Power 90 was on top of the continent. Why were they called “Power 90?”
In 1990 Power Dynamos won a treble and earned the name “Power 90!” tag.
Chansa was leader from the front. But he could have played for Nkana earlier.
His dad, James Chama, was a former Nkana defender who played at the former Scrivener Stadium for 18 years.
In fact, Chansa started his club football or “Under Kavacha” as we called it back then at Nkana’s once famed Ajax Academy but was considered surplus to senior club promotion requirements.
That’s how Chansa found himself working under legendary Freddie Mwila at bitter rivals Power.
The noisy Wusakili neighbours’s loss was the the smart Ndeke outfit’ s gain.
But having won everything at club level, the exit from Power to South Africa in 1992 had a sad story sting to it.
The 1991 Mandela Cup winning squad was owed bonuses from lifting the coveted crown.
Chansa as captain voiced out and protested playing the continental matches in 1992.
He was banned with several senior Power players for the whole season.
The beloved son of the club left to join another Dynamos, this time of South Africa.
It was on his return to attend to family matters that he was drafted into the squad [COLOUR PICTURE SQUAD] that intially drew 0-0 with Zimbabwe in a tight game at Independence Stadium with then English top flight club Coventry City striker the dreaded Peter Ndhlovu leading the line for our Warrior neighbours in the battle of the Zambezi brothers.
The weather focus from Komoki and company was that it would rain. We went with umbrellas. It never rained “goals” or rain itself. It was a Saturday. In the aftermath of the draw some SDA people suggested that Zambia should stop playing on the Sabbath.
This is a game where Watyakeni was joint man of the match with One Man Commando Jonson Bwalya but Chansa was a senior conductor of the Zambia choir.
Watyakeni had kept the dreaded Ndhlovu in the pocket the entire match.
By this time at Independence Stadium whenever the Chansa touched the ball it was not uncommon to hear the crowd chant , “Wizzzzzzzzzzzzz!” for the player who sported a trademark punk hair-style.
His last involvement was the famous 3-0 bashing of Mauritius where Kelvin “Malaza” Mutale bagged a hat-trick.
They started off to Senegal after a stop over from Mauritius and were delayed in Lusaka due to complications in the state of the military planes they were using.
I saw them at Masiye Lodges in Emmasdale on the day of departure.
The following day, I woke up to the incredible news that Wiz and 29 others including 18 creme dela creme footballers and coaches Chola and Ucar Godfrey Chitalu, FAZ chairman Michael Mwape had perished.
Up to this day, I have never come to terms with that disaster.
I still want to go to sleep and wake up and find I had a bad dream.
Alas, such is life, we can only learn lessons of patriotism as epitomized by one Summer Bee, One Wiz.
One Wisdom Mumba Chansa.
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