Former Zimbabwe footballer, Charles Yohane was shot dead in South Africa last weekend according to reports.
The 48-year-old former Bidvest Wits and Fire Batteries midfielder was reportedly killed by car hijackers in South Africa on Saturday night, February 12, 2022.
However, it was until February 14, 2022, that the remains of his body were found in Mzimhlophe, Soweto.
Who is Charles Yohane?
Charles Yohane was born on August 26, 1974, in Rhodesia. He moved from Zimbabwe to South Africa in 1996 to continue with his football career.
He started his professional football career at Fire Batteries. From there, he joined African Wanderers and then return to Fire Batteries in 1995. His first major club in South Africa was AmaZulu which he joined in 1996.
It was until 1997 that he joined a then South Africa elite club, Bidvest Wits. He played for the club between 1997 and 2006.
Between that period, Charles Yohane made a record 268 league appearances in which he scored 44 league goals despite playing mostly as a midfielder. The last club he played for before he retired from club football in 2008 was FC AK.
As for international football, Charles Yohane represented Zimbabwe national team between 1996 and 2007.
He was part of the Zimbabwe national team that represented the country in the 2004 African Cup of Nations. They performed so badly that the team finished at the bottom of the group.
Yohane was also part of the Zimbabwean national team squad that represented the country in the 2006 African Cup of Nations in which the team also finished poorly.
The late footballer retired from international football in 2007 after making 23 appearances in which he scored a goal.
Life after football for Yohane
After retiring from football as a professional footballer, Charles Yohane went into coaching. He coached Wits’ developmental side until 2020 before the club sold the franchise to Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila.
After he lost the job, he went into delivery service. It was in the course of the business that car-hijackers snatched his car from him and shot him to dead.
“He wasn’t a friend, he was a brother, and we have lost him in bad circumstances,” the late footballer’s friend Innocent Chikoya told BBC Sport.
“He was clever, an intelligent footballer, he had ways of getting things done. He was a leader, disciplined and dedicated.
“I will be collecting his body from the funeral parlour on Thursday and will be taking him home.”
According to BBC, a South Africa-based Zimbabwean, Edelbert Dinha said: “We tried calling him from Saturday up to Monday, and we couldn’t reach him. Then I went to the police station.
“Charles was a quiet person, always smiling, he never argued with anyone. He was coaching Leruma United FC in the ABC Motsepe League.”
