His last moments

MANDOZA’S manager, Kevin Ntaopane, was with him when he died last Sunday. Ntaopane said Mandoza’s wife , Mpho, called him just after midday. “She said, ’Kevin, things are not looking good.’ ”

While waiting for an ambulance, the kwaito singer’s family gathered around his bed. “His mom was trying to encourage him. She said, ‘You’ll be all right.’ ” Ntaopane and his uncle eventually carried the singer to the car to drive him to the hospital.

With them were Mandoza’s wife and his mother, Nobesuthu. “He was lying on his mom’s lap and I was holding his feet.” Ntaopane said the singer fought for his life but died “in the warm arms of his mom” before he could get help. —