‘Even if I go now, I’m good’
Friends and family remember the singer as intensely loyal and ’surprisingly sensitive’
AS South Africans mourned the loss of Mandoza this week, his loved ones can take comfort in the knowledge that the kwaito legend left this world at peace with it.
Good friend Somizi Mhlongo has revealed that just a month ago the father of four survived a near fatal seizure: he was pronounced dead but resuscitated.
“I asked him how it was on the other side and he said: ‘It is so peaceful, even if I go now, I’m good,’ ” said Mhlongo.
The musician also had these prophetic words to say to his friend the last time he saw him at his home in Pimville: “Whether I win this battle or lose it; if I win it, great. If I lose it, I would have lost it physically, not spiritually.”
Thirty-eight-year-old Mduduzi “Mandoza” Tshabalala was laid to rest on Friday at Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg after dying of cancer.
Mhlongo said a similar sense of humour and love for fashion brought them together; they had been friends since 2001.
“We were so much into labels, into brands and the love for sunglasses. Every time I had a new pair of shades, I would send him a picture and he would do the same.”
Mhlongo added that the Nkalakatha singer was scheduled to be a guest on Whose Show is it Anyway?, the Metro FM breakfast show he co-hosted.
“When you spoke to him on the phone, you would never tell the guy was sick. He was spunky and bubbly.”
The Idols SA judge described the singer as spontaneous and humorous, a sentiment echoed by fellow muso Danny K (real name Daniel Koppel), who described his “brother” as a lion.
“He laughed like a lion and very much embodied that sentiment for me,” he said.
To honour their bond, the Hurts so Bad singer performed the song he wrote for his late younger brother at Mandoza’s memorial earlier this week.
“I don’t perform [the song] very often, but I couldn’t think of a more fitting song . . . I wrote the song for my younger brother and I feel like I had to do it for another.”
Danny K and Mandoza released a joint album in 2005.
“Most people would be surprised to know how soft and gentle he was. He wasn’t very loud, he was very sensitive, he didn’t allow a lot of people to know that,” he said.
He said Mandoza’s wife, Mpho, was an integral part of the singer’s life.
“He was almost incomplete without her.
“I’ve never seen more loyalty like he possessed for the people in his camp.”
Siphiwe “The General” Sibisi, a childhood friend who had gone on to form the group Chiskop with Mandoza in the early ’90s — described the musician as an icon.
“I’ve known him since we were 15 or 16. We met doing gymnastics.”
The singer also revealed that Mandoza used to be a model, even winning his high school pageant. “He used to have German cuts and loved to imitate the song Mr Lover Man,” he said, laughing.
Despite a colourful past that included a jail stint for car theft when he was 16, Mandoza grew up in a strict home under the guidance of his grandparents and mother, said his uncle Muziwakhe Tshabalala.
He described his nephew as a responsible son: “Even when his mother was not home, he would look after his sisters.”
His uncle referred to the singer’s public struggle with drugs and alcohol, but said that he “never came home in an altered state”, emphasising respect as one of his nephew’s best qualities.
Tshabalala said his nephew reduced him to tears when he was going through financial difficulty. Mandoza travelled from Cape Town, where he was working on an album, to bring money to Tshabalala.
“He flew especially for this purpose. He flew back the same day,” he said.
Tshabalala said his nephew was “cheerful” despite his ailing health, but was taking strain emotionally.
“He was active . . . but he couldn’t do those things anymore. I could see it hurt him, but he was strong and didn’t show it,” he said.
As to the message that Tshabalala believes his nephew would likely give his family, he said: “He would say: ‘It is well. Please accept this.’ ”
If I win this battle, great. If I lose it, I would have lost it physically, not spiritually