When the electricity goes off at Miracle Ebubechi Michael’s home in Imo State, south-eastern Nigeria, watching Orlando Pirates becomes a little more expensive. There is diesel to buy and a generator to run to get the lights on. Missing the Bucs, however, is hardly an option for the 31-year-old who inherited her father’s affection for the Soweto giants.
Growing up, she heard her father’s adoration of Ezimnyama as the soundtrack to match days. His love for the club proved infectious, and before long she was cheering alongside him.
When she got married and moved out of her family home, she had to buy a DStv subscription.
“If there’s no electricity in Nigeria, I have to buy fuel and use my generator just to watch the team,” she tells FARPost.
And so, thousands of kilometres from Orlando, a Pirates fixture has become an appointment not to be missed.
This week, the woman South African football followers know as Mimi or Anoda Mirakle has needed neither a television nor a generator to watch her beloved team.
She was in the stands when Pirates dispatched Milford 3-0 in the Carling Knockout Cup, receiving the club’s new home jersey on her first time watching the Buccaneers live.
On Saturday, she gets the bigger occasion – a Soweto Derby against cross-town rivals Kaizer Chiefs in the Betway Premiership. Getting her here took some doing. An attempt last year fell through because of visa issues. This time, Princess Ndobe and two fellow supporters helped assemble an 11-person team, drawing on contacts in South Africa, Nigeria and London to organise her first trip abroad.
Supporters, including rival fans, raised more than R40,000 while the organisers worked through visa requirements and travel arrangements. Local businesses offered assistance, and the Zodwa Khoza Foundation covered her accommodation in Soweto.
HE ENJOYED THOSE YEARS WATCHING ORLANDO PIRATES
But long before strangers put money towards her flight, her father was returning home with stories about Pirates.
“He was a big Orlando Pirates fan, even though, at the time, it wasn’t as loud in Nigeria as it is now,” she says. “He’d come back home and tell us whatever he’d experienced, how the game went, whether Orlando Pirates won, lost or drew.”
Those accounts stayed with his daughter. When he died last year, she found herself thinking about what would become of the things he had loved. Silence did not seem right.
“I felt there was absolutely no way to keep quiet about some of the things he loved while he was alive. So I chose to go the social media way,” she says.
“During his time, there was nothing like social media. Nobody knew what he loved, how he enjoyed those years watching Orlando Pirates. But now I have to do better than he did, just to carry on the legacy.”
Her football commentary gave that devotion an audience. South Africans discovered a Nigerian woman who cared deeply about their club and wanted to understand its people and history.
Ndobe, who has known her for almost two years, remembers the questions she would often ask. “She would always call and ask, ‘How do I pronounce this name? What is the history behind this person? How does that work?’ She’s always been very inquisitive,” she tells FARPost.
Away from football, Mimi is a psychology graduate from Imo State University, an event host and a photographer. Her husband is a chef. She is also a mother of two, with another generation already learning the names of Pirates players.
In South Africa, she has been doing some learning herself, particularly about the food.
MEETING WILLIAM OKPARA
“It’s been good. It’s been amazing. It beats whatever I expected. I didn’t know South Africa was this beautiful,” she says. “I had kota, and it was nice. I had magwinya, I’m going to have braai.”
Then there was the meeting with William Okpara, her all-time favourite Buccaneer.
“I got to meet him the other day. I call him the rock behind that 1995 star.”
Ndobe adds these encounters are part of what the organisers hoped to give her. “We’ve always said being part of Orlando Pirates is being part of a family you didn’t know you had. That’s something we wanted to share with her and others,” she explains.
From football history to the heartbeat of Soweto, she experienced Johannesburg in all its colour, culture and spirit. She had an exclusive Orlando Pirates historical tour, a full Soweto experience, a visit to the iconic Vilakazi Street and Mandela House and a moment at the Hector Pieterson Memorial.
She also got to soak up the energy of the bustling Johannesburg CBD and round off the experience with a special dinner alongside Bucs legends. Mimi appears to have settled it.
“This has taught me that Orlando Pirates is not just a club; it’s a family, it’s an institution. It feels like home,” she says. “I love the connection between the players and fans. They get to greet the fans, which you don’t normally get.”
CHIEFS WILL NOT SPOIL HER VISIT
Now she wants to see the derby costumes and the thousands of people she has watched on television. She has brought her own costume.
Mimi has also promised that Chiefs, currently fifth in the Betway Premiership table, will not spoil her visit. Her earlier vow to walk back to Nigeria should Amakhosi win has predictably followed her here.
“There’s no way Kaizer Chiefs are beating us. Pirates are on a whole different level, and they will not disappoint me. Imagine coming from Nigeria and being beaten by Kaizer Chiefs, which has been struggling,” she adds.
For a woman who buys fuel to keep watching Pirates, backing down was never an option. “I won’t be walking,” she insists. “I’ll be flying back to Nigeria.”
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