Johannesburg - Those who followed his career knew him to be a gifted footballer in his heydays. Now in the nadir of his life, he is convinced he has gifts from above.
The man known variously as Maria-Maria, General or Computer to his hordes of fans as a dazzling midfielder for glamour club Kaizer Chiefs says he was 24 when he gave his life to Jesus Christ. It was at the peak of his game.
Today that man, born Vusi Zacharia Lamola, is an ordained pastor and peppers his conversation with quotes from the Scriptures. Before sitting down to our conversation with him at his Diepkloof Zone 1 home in Soweto, he asked that he open proceedings with a prayer, asking God to bless the interview. Now 72, he chuckles when asked if he never looked back after giving his life to Christ: “I did look but just to check the distance I’ve covered.”
His faith is very important to him, Computer says. “When you talk about faith, it is an individual’s vision, the art of seeing the invisible. One’s relationship with God is vital. I feel obliged to say what led me to God. It was John Coltrane.”
Coltrane, affectionately known as Trane, was an American saxophonist.
“When I first heard about Coltrane, I was impressed. I researched more. I was shattered to hear he was no more. He died in 1967. But I went on to unearth more about this giant. I reached a point where I didn’t blame God for taking him away. I thanked Him for leading me to Coltrane. Much as he was in his world, he was not of this world. He was a strong believer. ”A Love Supreme“, his composition, is something else. He was no ordinary musician. He prayed that he should make people happy with music. Through his influence, I went on to become a pastor.”
“In A ‘Love Supreme’, I played Psalms. Instead of playing further, I stopped and knelt to pray. I thanked God.”
“Coltrane stole my heart.”
Computer would make people happy through football, stealing their hearts with his nimble-footed magic.
“His music must not die. It must be exposed to the coming generations. I thank God. A picture is a poem without words, even so with music. Coltrane was interviewed by a journalist and asked what he’d call a certain composition he was working on. If I had it my way, he told the journalist, I’d give my listeners the chance to title the composition because music speaks for itself. But I am going to title it ‘Expression’. There’s a track called ‘Offering’. Some things have to be felt, not explained. It was through Coltrane that I was convinced there’s eternity, and a man does not die.”
His eyes come alive when he talks about Coltrane, his music and his spirituality. Computer begs his audience to listen to Coltrane play such tracks as ‘Transition’, and a few others with ecclesiastical titles.
Coltrane out of the way, Computer talks of the work he does with his church, By His Might Ministry, which is now in its fifth year. They have set up the Good News School Ministry, through which they preach at schools, 34 so far. Their slogan is Catch Them Young, Mould Them Big.
“A candle that gives light to another candle does not lose its brightness,” he says of his role as a talent scout and motivational speaker.
He speaks passionately about the issues close to his heart, like identifying talent, not just in soccer, but across the sporting codes.
“With blacks, football is a religion. Through God’s grace, I’ve been to different parts of the world. We are the best in terms of talent. Brazil can wait. The problem is that it’s a good seed that fell on a bad piece of soil. Talent is nurtured in Sweden. Talented kids are taken away, with the permission of their parents, to be moulded into star athletes in their respective sports.”
“A leader is not a boss but a servant. I like saying: A boss makes an impression on people’s minds; a servant makes an impact on people’s hearts. With (the national soccer mother body) SAFA, people think the suits running it, the administrators, are bosses. We, the masses, are SAFA. The government is us here, not the politicians. They are elected to carry out our mandate.”
But Computer laments the dearth of servant leadership. He was at a conference in Atlanta, Georgia, when he heard someone say: “Greater things can be achieved if there are men and women committed to working together without worrying who gets the credit. He said the word TEAM means ‘together everyone achieves more’.”
Computer says the past is still with us.
“We have a common problem but we address it as individuals. Look at the unity among whites, they are like a majority and we, the majority, are like a minority.”
His part of Diepkloof was the so-called Sotho section against the others demarcated to house XiTsonga, TshiVenda and Setswana speakers.
“The township was segregated along tribal lines. It was deliberate apartheid spatial planning, divide and rule. This was not addressed and done away with in 1994, as it should have. We have to set down criteria for selecting a leader. We are led by financially viable people, but no leadership skills. Someone who is vocal and speaks English fluently but has no leadership skills is thrust into leadership. Leadership is very important; the success of any structure depends on the kind of its leadership. Leaders today are people with (political) connections.”