DR Congolese footballer (1948–2019)
Ndaye Mulamba|
| Full name |
Pierre Ndaye Mulamba |
|---|
| Date of birth |
(1948-11-04)4 November 1948 |
|---|
| Place of birth |
Luluabourg, Belgian Congo |
|---|
| Date of death |
26 January 2019(2019-01-26) (aged 70) |
|---|
| Place of death |
Johannesburg, South Africa |
|---|
| Position(s) |
Forward |
|---|
|
| 1962–1964 |
Renaissance du Kasaï |
|---|
|
| Years |
Team |
Apps |
(Gls) |
|---|
| 1964–1971 |
Renaissance du Kasaï |
|
|
|---|
| 1971–1972 |
AS Bantous |
|
|
|---|
| 1972–1988 |
AS Vita Club |
224 |
(116) |
|---|
|
| 1967–1976 |
Zaire[1] |
20 |
(10) |
|---|
|
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Pierre Ndaye Mulamba (4 November 1948 – 26 January 2019) was a footballer from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, who played as a forward. He was nicknamed "Mutumbula" ("assassin") and "Volvo".[2][3]
Mulamba was born in Luluabourg (now Kananga) in 1948.[4] In 1973, he starred for AS Vita Club of Kinshasa, who won the African Cup of Champions Clubs.[3] He was a second-half substitute for the Zaire national team against Morocco in the decisive match in qualification for the 1974 World Cup.[5] In 1974 Mulamba played for Zaire in both the African Cup of Nations in Egypt [6] and the FIFA World Cup in West Germany. In Egypt he scored nine goals, still a record,[7] as Zaire won the tournament. Mulamba was named Player of the Tournament and was awarded the National Order of the Leopard by President Mobutu Sese Seko.[3] In Germany, he captained the team,[7] and played in the 2–0 defeat by Scotland,[8] but was sent off after 22 minutes against Yugoslavia.[8] Zaire were already losing 4–0 by then, and finally lost 9–0.[8] Mulamba said later that the team had underperformed, either in protest or from loss of morale, after not receiving a promised $45,000 match bonus.[2][3]
Later life
In 1994, Mulamba was honoured at the 1994 African Cup of Nations in Tunisia.[3] On returning to Zaire, he was shot in the leg by robbers who mistakenly assumed a former sports star would be a wealthy target.[9][2][3][7] He was sheltered by Emmanuel Paye-Paye for eight months' recuperation.[3] During the First Congo War, Mulamba's eldest son was killed and in 1996 he fled to South Africa as a refugee, alone and destitute.[2] He went to Johannesburg and then Cape Town, where he was taken in by a family in a township.[2] In 1998, a minute's silence was held at the African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso after an erroneous report that Mulamba had died in a diamond mining accident in Angola.[3] By then Mulamba was unemployed and drinking heavily.[3]
By 2010 Mulamba was working as a coach of local amateur teams and had married a local woman.[2] Forgotten Gold, a documentary filmed in 2008–09, follows him in South Africa and on a visit back to Congo.[7][10] He also met with Danny Jordaan, head of the organising committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[7]
Mulamba suffered from heart, kidney and knee problems in later life and was a wheelchair user.[11][12] He lived in poverty and without recognition in the Khayelitsha township of Cape Town.[11] He died in Johannesburg on 26 January 2019.[12][11][13]
