All about hard work and perseverance – Haukambe 

The life story of former junior national team defender Sedekia ‘Song’ Haukambe is one of hard work and perseverance.

Haukambe first made a name for himself in the famous red-and-black jersey of former Namibian cup kings Black Africa (BA), before he was scooped up by the all-conquering Civics.

“I first told by my coach at Black Africa I was too young to play for a team of BA’s stature. I was only 16 years old at the time, but I proved to him that the will of a 16-year-old was just as strong as that of a 20-year-old.

“I stayed on and made my debut against a rampant Blue Waters side at Walvis Bay. It was a true baptism of fire because I first had to mark Sydney Plaatjies, who destroyed me at right-back before I was switched to left-back, where I was finished off by Paulus ‘Wire’ Shipanga,” the retired right-back says.

He says he was praying to be replaced during the match, but instead, coach Mike ‘Barnes’ Petersen left him first struggling against Blue Waters left-winger Plaatjies before right-winger Shipanga finished him off.

Haukambe’s coach and teammates laughed at him after the match and told him that was his introduction to Black Africa and premier league football.

NO QUITTER

The second time Haukanbe demonstrated he was not a quitter was after he failed his trials at a club in Germany he was recommended to by a friend of former Civics club director Helmut Scharnowski.

“I was basically told I did not have what it takes to play football in the German leagues,” he says.

“I told myself there was no way I would come back to play football in Namibia again after I got so impressed with the set-up of German football. I joined fourth division team SC Herford for a season. Statistics now read that I lived in Germany for 15 years.”

After Herford, Haukambe joined Tus Dornberg, where he stayed for five seasons before he moved on to FC Gutersloh, where he sustained a career-threatening muscle injury which left him with no action for a whole year before he resurfaced at Gutersloh again.

The powerful right-back continued playing in the German lower divisions with various teams.

Today, he is still playing in the seventh division with SpVg Heepen after retiring at age 40.

Heepen is based in Bielefeld in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Before he came to Windhoek to attend school at Pioneer Boys Secondary School, Haukambe started playing street football at the age of 12.

“We played at an open space known as Bundesliga Park near Kuisebmond Secondary School. It was the come-together spot of the football-playing black youths of Walvis Bay,” he says.

“We watched the older boys like Dokkies Theodor, Wycliff Kambonde, Gottlieb Nakuta, Dahle Mutirifa, and Paulus Shipanga, who all went on to play big league football with Blue Waters and Eleven Arrows respectively, entertaining us with their skills.”

The first time Haukambe got introduced to organised football was when he joined Atlantis Sports Club, which also started playing against visiting teams from Germany. He says that Schalke wanted to invite him over to Germany at the time but his parents refused.

At Pioneers Boys Secondary School, Haukambe met up with the likes of former Black Africa and African Stars gifted striker Bradley ‘Asprilla’ Wermann and the overlapping right-back Freddy Kauzu.

“I was a very energetic and committed young player and I didn’t allow any nonsense from opposition forwards. That was probably what (Rusten) Mogane saw in me and it did not take any long before he called me up to the national under-17 team he was coaching,” he says.

The young Haukambe was later integrated into the national under-20 and later into the under-23 team where he played against some of South Africa’s top junior players.

Although he never played for the Brave Warriors, he was always called up to the training camp of the senior national team.

“I don’t regret never having won a single senior national team cap. I was privileged enough to have trained with the country’s top players, some who played overseas in Germany while the others played for top in the South African Premier League,” Haukambe says.

The late Zambian coach Ben Bamfuchile is one of the best coaches he has trained under, he says.

“Bamfuchile was a father figure to us; it’s unfortunate he never fulfilled his mandate with Namibia due to illness.”

The retired star won a lot of silverware with BA, including the Sam Nujoma Cup, multiple Windhoek Lager NFA Cups, and another NFA Cup with Civics before he left for Germany.

WORK, FAMILY

Haukambe, who is married and has a son, has been working for what can be referred to as Germany’s ‘NamPost’ for the last 12 years.

He says he just finished his property agent exams and is looking forward to a new career.

His advice to young players is: “Don’t think once you’ve made it into a premier league team you’ve made it football-wise. The football world doesn’t have limitations. Strive for the professional league in South Africa, then Europe must be your next destination.” Haukambe says.

“Think big, like playing in the domestic cups, with your ultimate goal being the Uefa Champions League.”

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