Fungayi Munyoro-Chingaira

MASVINGO -Just days after laying to rest Zimbabwe National Cricket Team fielding coach and Southern Rocks coach Shepherd ‘Shepp’ Makunura, grief visited the cricket family again, following the death of his wife Sinikiwe Mpofu who was The Zimbabwe Senior National Women’s team assistant coach.

Mpofu, the former Zimbabwe international cricket player affectionately known as Sneeze, was pronounced dead on arrival at a medical facility after she collapsed at her home in Masvingo this Saturday morning.
She was 37.

Her death came just 23 days after the cricket family buried her husband in Harare. Makunura passed away on 15 December 2022.
ZC Media and Communications manager Darlington Majonga confirmed the sad development.

“It is with great sadness and shock that Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) announces the sudden death of Zimbabwe Senior Women’s National Team Assistant Coach Sinikiwe Mpofu, less than a month after her husband, Shepherd Makunura, was laid to rest,” he said.
She is survived by two children.

Born in Bulawayo on 21 February 1985, Mpofu was a talented all-rounder who was part of the history-making team that represented Zimbabwe Women in their first-ever international cricket match in December 2006.

After ending her playing career, she ventured into coaching and scoring, becoming an integral part of ZC’s game development structures at provincial and national levels.

Mpofu has been part of the technical teams that have seen Zimbabwe Women dominating Africa, earning one-day international status and recently finishing just one win away from qualifying for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.