Gugu’s last hugs with mom
FAMILY TELLS OF THEIR FINAL MOMENTS WITH RACING ACE BEFORE HE LEFT FOR KILIMANJARO
THE mother of motor racing hero Gugu Zulu, Puleng Zulu, says she will forever miss the hug she used to get from him.
She was speaking to Sowetan from her family home in Bryanston yesterday.
“That hug, no one will give me that hug again. He would hug me and say ‘Mumsie’.
“It is painful to talk about your child in the past [tense]. He is no more. The one and only son. I have seen people losing children through accidents. I can’t blame this on somebody else,” she said.
She said the last time she saw her son on Tuesday last week, Gugu and his wife Letshego had come to drop off their oneyear-old daughter before departing for the Trek4Mandela initiative as part of a group destined to summit Mount Kilimanjaro.
Zulu said the family had contact with Gugu and his wife while they were in Tanzania.
She sent them pictures of their child through a family chat group.
She described Gugu as a lovely child. “I enjoyed raising that child. I am happy I did not do it alone. He was God’s gift. I am happy to have raised such a lovely and respectful child.”
Her brother and family spokesman Tseliso Motloheloa said Gugu’s sister Liyanda flew to Tanzania this week to comfort her sister-in-law.
“They are very close [Letshego and Liyanda]. That is why when the news broke about her brother’s death she said ‘no, I am not going to stay here’.
“She says Letshego is not in a good space. She is managing, though. Liyanda is our strong man there. We are also devastated, but we have to soldier on.”
Gugu’s trophies and medals are on proud display in a glass cabinet in his parent’s TV room.
Motloheloa said a memorial service would be held on Tuesday at Kyalami racetrack from 11am to 2pm.
It would be followed by a requiem mass at St Mark’s Anglican Church in Northriding between 11am and 1pm on Wednesday.
I am happy to “have raised such a lovely and respectful child
TREK4MANDELA leader, Sibusio Vilane, yesterday blamed himself for the death of motorsports personality Gugu Zulu.
Last night, an emotional Vilane gave an account of what happened on Mount Kilimanjaro leading to Zulu’s death. He was speaking at a media conference at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.
Battling to control his emotions, Vilane said he was “disappointed” and “sorry” that he came back with one climber short, after he had made a promise to families and loved ones of the climbers that he would bring them back home alive.
Zulu died while trying to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro for the #Trek4Mandela expedition. His wife Letshego was in the team too.
“It was Wednesday last week when I stood up and said two things. I said to the climbers that we are going up to climb Kilimanjaro and it is a tough mountain, you’re going to have to dig deep to walk your way up to the mountain.
“My next statement was to relatives, friends, mothers, fathers, brothers and your sisters that have come to bid you farewell. As the leader, I promise you my role is to make sure that I bring those that you have come to see go away safely and alive,” said Vilane.
“I’m very disappointed today to say that I did not deliver on that promise... I made a joke and said I may be called Simba which means lion. But I don’t eat people, but today I do feel like I have eaten one of them and I’m not proud of myself,” said Vilane breaking down in tears.
Vilane who said he had 15 years of climbing and leading expeditions said he would have not allowed Zulu to climb the mountain if he had known that he was sick because “I valued his life more”.
Dr Roxanne Schutte said Zulu had complained of a scratchy throat and sinuses which he had given him something for that and kept him under a close watch to ensure that he would be fit to summit.
She said Zulu had not really been ill he had mild symptoms that most of the people in the group were having because of the long walk on dusty roads.
“We now have to wait for the results of the postmortem to find out what was his cause of death, any speculation now is just that speculation,” she said.
CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Sello Hatang, said Zulu would be laid to rest next Thursday after a memorial service on Tuesday.