Zangi
This is the tragic tale of a very talented Footballer who died before he was 30.
Zangi was a talented Footballer, A nephew to Private Hezekiah Ochuka and a controversial young man.
How he came to be nicknamed Zangi is as interesting as the man himself.
Zangi spent his formative years in Kisumu. It was here that he earned his nickname.
In school he was mostly known as John Okello. During that era there was a famous Zairean musician who went by the name of Johnny Bokelo Isenge. So, his mates started to call him Johnny Okello Isenge. The later was corrupted by Umoja lads to be Zangi when he shifted base to Nairobi.
His life was short and eventful. In his late 20s, he had played for Kenya’s two most historic teams. Then something strange happened: he shocked all by hanging his football boots at the tender age of 27.
A few months later he was found dead.
Football fans in Kenya may not connect the life of this famous Gor Mahia and Harambee Stars player with the August 1982 attempted coup.
Take John ‘Zangi’ Okello, wrap him into one and you wonder why great people often die young. The man died before many understood his background.
Before he died in 1992 he had written football history by abandoning Gor Mahia and joining their arch-rivals AFC Leopards, causing a great explosion of emotions never seen before between these two community clubs. That was John Okello, the guy who was full of surprises.
Back in 1982, Kenyans woke up to confusion on Sunday 1st August 1982. Soldiers of the Kenya Air Force had gone on the rampage in an attempt to overthrow the government of President Daniel Araap Moi.
Somewhere in Umoja One Estate, young 18-year-old John Okello had just started his life in the city, living with his uncle Hezekiah Ochuka in the Nairobi estate. Though a soldier in the Eastleigh based Kenya Air Force, Ochuka also had a house outside the barracks. This is where his nephew John Okello also lived.
Anyone who saw young Zangi in Kisumu’s Nyalenda can say how he was obsessed with playing football. As other boys carried their books to school, he had an additional paper bag which carried his old football boots wherever he went.
He told anyone who cared to listen how the paper bag contained what he considered would change his life. Indeed after his high school in 1981, he left Kisumu for Nairobi, falling into the hands of his uncle, Hezekiah Ochuka.
Just a few years before, at Kisumu Boys High School, teenagers in the city and indeed the whole country were dancing to hits by Congolese musician Johny Bokello Isenge. It is the musician’s last name ‘Isenge’ that school mates gave the talented John Okello as a nickname. With time, it was corrupted to ‘Sengi’ then gradually it became ‘Zangi’.
Zangi moved to Nairobi to look for his fortune in football. He knew he was talented, tried and tested. Naturally, he joined his community club Gor Mahia after a short training stint with Iqbal FC in Nairobi.
He moved in with his uncle Hezekiah Ochuka and stayed in Umoja One Estate. Ochuka was a soldier with official housing at the barracks in Eastleigh. Ochuka too had grander plans than nurturing an aspiring Footballer.
Zangi therefore had a field day in Umoja. In August 1982, the coup happened and Ochuka was arrested. It is alleged that few days after the attempted coup, Kenya Army soldiers went to the Umoja house and chased away John Zangi Okello and his cousin Harun Owuor before ransacking the house. Zangi was helpless and devastated by the sudden turn of events. He took it in his stride and drowned his sorrows in his football activities.
Gor Mahia had never seen a talented young man like Zangi. He could master the midfield with precision and courage. Some fans called him Okello ‘Zing-Zang’ because of his ability to run with the ball, stop, look the other way and take a turn in measured angles.
His 360 degrees turn was the fans’ favourite. Like a round robbin, Zangi could turn mid-way and pass the ball in any direction leaving his opponents in a trance.
At the 1983 Senior CECAFA final match between Kenya and Zimbabwe, he did exactly that. He passed the ball to a teammate in a one-two formation and pretended to receive, but let it slip between his legs, landing in the path of a charging JJ Masiga.
The blockbuster that came from JJ sent the crowd at Nyayo Stadium into a frenzy. Zangi had come in as a substitute but set up the winning goal in a 1 – 0 triumph. Harambee Stars won the Senior CECAFA triple, courtesy of Zangi’s trickery in his debut.
In 1988, Zangi was in the Harambee Stars team that toured Brazil. The newspapers there judged him the best player in the Kenyan team.
The young lad had run-ins with Gor Mahia officials simply because he became too outspoken. He could not entertain what he considered unfairness and player exploitation.
He was among players who had earlier been suspended after bribery and match-fixing accusations were levelled against them. Shortly upon reinstatement, he was back in the sin bin for speaking out loudly on matters to do with player remuneration.
Zangi was vocal and open-minded, a rebel of sorts. After conflict with club officials he did the unthinkable; He joined AFC Leopards.
Unlike today, that was like an abomination.
The daring John ‘Zangi’ Okello just as brave as the person he was named after, had crossed the red line.
It is like he answered Ingwe fans prayers.
Gor Mahia’s strength was their midfield. The club had excess talent in that department. They had John ‘Zangi’ Okello, George ‘Fundi’ Onyango, Charles ‘Engine’ Otieno, Abbas ‘Zamalek’ Magongo etc.
Ingwe fans were on cloud nine and they embraced their former tormentor with open and warm arms. They even gave him a nickname — ‘Wanyonyi’.
Gor Mahia fans were mad at their once favourite midfielder. They considered what Zangi did a big betrayal.
In 1986, word filtered out that Zangi’s favourite uncle Hezekiah Ochuka had been hanged in Kamiti. Zangi’s conscience was not clear, he became a very disturbed man. His mind was never settled and many thought he was unable to reconcile himself to what was going on around him.
Zangi abandoned football in 1992 and was found dead by the roadside in Kisumu. He was 27. The player had become alcoholic and resorted to roaming the streets of Nairobi and Kisumu. He had no house, no wife or children, no family and no friends. The dazzling midfielder was destined for ruin and death.
Some saw the long arm of government, others saw witchcraft. Some thought juju was at work. Others accused Gor Mahia fans who they claimed had bewitched Zangi after he showed them the middle finger.
