{"id":3377,"date":"2022-04-18T22:06:56","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T21:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=3377"},"modified":"2022-04-18T22:06:58","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T21:06:58","slug":"the-legend-of-legends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2022\/04\/18\/the-legend-of-legends\/","title":{"rendered":"The Legend of Legends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The late great Ginger Pensulo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (April 18th<\/sup> 2022)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In His Name<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a few years now I have been championing the cause of elderly legends of football and Africa. It has often been a lonely path to furrow, plagued by dishonesty on occasion. So, let\u2019s be clear, I am not African \u2013 something my accent in any language gives away as soon as I speak. It\u2019s not my responsibility to look after African legends, especially when Africans don\u2019t bother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year ago a man I admired greatly and tried to help by taking his plight with me everywhere I went passed away. He should not have died. He did not have to die. I have rarely been as angry as I was over the icon born John Mulenga, but better known as Ginger Pensulo. Abandoned by his natural father \u2013 unnatural really \u2013 as an infant, he took the name of the man who married his mother and raised him Pensulo Mwaba. He had natural football talent, but in those days, colonial times in Northern Rhodesia, it was hard to develop talent and be treated right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Legend<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pensulo\u2019s talent and football ethic shone through. He worked in Roan Mines and was spotted and assisted by its welfare officer, Benny Evans. In those days they had to work day jobs and train afterwards. Pensulo developed into one of Zambia\u2019s great players. He graced Zambian football for the best part of 20 years. He coached local teams and then developed goalkeepers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

His contribution to Zambian football was immense. His passing was marked with a tribute from the President of CAF, Dr Patrice Motsepe. His grave is a disgrace. In death and life this gentle soul deserved so much better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gentle Soul who Deserved Better<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ginger Pensulo\u2019s life could easily have been saved. A government scheme, the National Health Insurance Management Authority (NHIMA) organised free health care and medicine and more for any Zambian over 65 since 2019. Pensulo easily qualified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Foundation was established in his name, yet its Directors and CEO said nothing about this, preferring to borrow money from me and breach the terms, knowing this was to help others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ginger Pensulo deserved so much better in life, and sadly in death too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pensulo’s Grave<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (April 18th 2022) In His Name For a few years now I have been championing the cause of elderly legends [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,14],"tags":[222,23,221,223,224],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3377"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3378,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3377\/revisions\/3378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}