BULAWAYO – Madinda Ndlovu sparked fury on social media after declaring that Highlanders’ win over Dynamos on Sunday brought joy to Ndebele people.

The Highlanders coach, speaking after their dominant 1-0 victory over their arch-rivals, shared his emotions with reporters about the importance of the win for his Premier League strugglers.

“It’s always good to make your people happy. I’m happy they are singing, it helps them to forget a lot of things,” said Ndlovu.

“This game has sentimental value to the Ndebele, to the Highlanders fans and family. Dynamos had dominated us for up to ten years and now we are almost halfway through, trying to cover up that dominance they had.”

The comments sparked anger on Twitter and Facebook, with non-Ndebele supporters taking issue with the coach’s comments.

“My late brother was die-hard Bosso fan but was Shona. He would attend almost every Bosso match. This is insulting,” said one fan on Twitter.

“Fill me in, who scored for Highlanders by the way? I doubt he is Ndebele. That’s just misplaced,” said another football fan, referring to Cleopas Kapupurika’s 71st minute winner. Kapupurika is a former Dynamos player who joined Highlanders this season.

“Is he himself Ndebele? Is he not Tonga?” asked another fan.

But not everyone was outraged.

“Madinda is 100 percent right… players are at work and no club in Zimbabwe has used various tribes than Bosso, but we are still Matebeleland Highlanders FC,” said Highlanders fan, Nodumo Nyathi.

Another said: “The sense of belonging and being tribalistic about it drives the excitement. It’s all over the world, Liverpool are tribal, Barca are tribal, Dynamos are tribal.”