Ndaye Mulamba

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]

Ndaye Mulamba

Personal information
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
Youth career
1962–1964	Renaissance du Kasaï
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1964–1971	Renaissance du Kasaï
1971–1972	AS Bantous
1972–1988	AS Vita Club	224	(116)
International career
1967–1976	Congo-Kinshasa/Zaire[1]	20	(10)
Medal record Representing  Zaire Men's football Africa Cup of Nations Winner 1974 Egypt
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Football career

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]

Honours

AS Vita Club

• African Cup of Champions Clubs: 1973
• Zaire / DR Congo League (6): 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1988
• Congo Cup (7): 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1983

Zaire

• Africa Cup of Nations: 1974