One of the longest-serving football administrators in the country, Mr. Ronald 'Bizza' Makhadi, is retiring at the end of September after serving the game for more than 50 years.
Makhadi started his football career while attending Fhatuwani Secondary School. Many football experts were shocked when the young and strongly built Makhadi was elected as the captain and coach of the senior team in his first year of high school, ahead of those who were in Form 2 and Form 3, as they were called in those years.
In 1981, he was elected as the assistant secretary of the then Sibasa Football Association. As he did not have a car at that time, he used to walk from Malavuwe to attend meetings in Sibasa. He remembers vividly the day he had to hide his bicycle because most of the other members of the association had cars.
In 1982, when he was a teacher at his former high school, the team reached the national final of the Coca-Cola Cup but sadly lost to Tivumbeni College. Between 1983 and 1988, he was the coach of the then Venda Homeland's national squad. He says he was very disappointed when the league failed to award prizes for two consecutive seasons, and he decided to quit. In 1984, together with other dedicated football administrators such as Evans Munyai and Terrence Muronga, to mention just two, they established the Northeastern Sibasa Football Association (NESISA).
In 1987, he resigned from the Department of Home Affairs where he was working as an acting senior clerk and became the first person in the then Northern Transvaal to work for a football association. "For a period of six months, I worked alone as a cleaner, a receptionist, and a manager for VENSA, which later became known as VEFA," he said. Makhadi was also the driving force behind the formation of SAFA-GNEP.
In 1997, he joined the Thulamela Municipality. He believed that the country's newly adopted constitution placed a responsibility on municipalities to provide and maintain sports facilities. His plan was to work towards the building of stadiums, boxing gyms, and libraries. "At least 80% of this plan has been achieved. No other municipality in the whole country has done what we have achieved," he said. Makhadi was lucky enough to have visited places such as Belgium, Ireland, and France, where he learned a lot about art centres, libraries, and sports facilities. He said his biggest regret was the failure to procure funding to upgrade the Thohoyandou Stadium.
When asked what he will be doing after dedicating most of his life to promoting sports activities in local communities, he said: "God willing, I will be in the Ministry full time for the coming years and retire as required by the church's constitution," he said.
A former football player and current chairperson of the Sterkstroom Real Chiefs, Mr Joe Nevhukalanga, said people could not talk about football in the Vhembe District without mentioning Ronald Makhadi. "His football administration skills are second to none in the district. Even today, he still helps struggling teams in this area with football knowledge and often uses his own money to make sure football is played in this region. As a token of appreciation for what he has done and is still doing for the development of football in this area, we have organised an annual football tournament to honour him. We understand he is leaving at the end of this month, and there will be a big football tournament in the area," he said.