Award-winning songbird Winnie Mashaba was humiliated by a group of people who tried to block her from attending Solly Moholo’s funeral in Tshwane last week.
Her alleged peccadillo was that she arrived at Moholo’s memorial service in an aircraft.
The jaw-dropping titbits were revealed by two highly placed sources, an artist manager and a musician, who disapprove of Mashaba’s alleged ill-treatment.
Speaking to Sunday World, the artist, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals, said Mashaba arrived at Moholo’s funeral service at Akasia Hall, to pay her last respects to the Kelahlibotsotsi hitmaker, who died in a Rustenburg hospital earlier this month after collapsing on stage while performing in Botswana.
The artist alleged that when the songstress tried to make her way into the hall, she was allegedly barred by members of
the Association for the Entertainers of SA (Aesa), who claimed that Moholo’s family instructed them to tell her that she was not welcomed at the funeral.
“Apparently the view was that Winnie was showing off by coming to the memorial service in an aircraft and might have used a lot of money to hire it when she failed to pay Moholo’s medical bill, which was running close to a million rand.
“Winnie was not flaunting; she had several commitments that day, and the only way she could honour them was to
charter an aircraft to the service. What they did to her was wrong, and we think she deserves an apology,” said the artist.
The artist said after a while, Aesa chief executive officer Hepter Mailula intervened, fetched Mashaba and walked and allowed her to take a pew and pay her homage to the man whose music transcended tribal borders.
The artist manager also alleged he was told there was a “black book” of persona no grata at Moholo’s funeral. “I was one of them, but I was able to sneak into the cemetery. The instruction that certain people, including me, should not set foot at the funeral was allegedly issued by Solly’s daughter, Louisa,” said the manager.
Louisa declined to comment.
Mailula said he knew nothing about the incident. “Yes, I fetched her from where she was and gave her a seat but I know nothing about her being prevented from attending the funeral.”
Mphoza Mashabela, the chairperson of the Limpopo Artists Movement, confirmed they are aware of Mashaba’s mistreatment.“We are not impressed with some members of Aesa’s conduct. I was communicating with Dr Winny Mashaba after arriving at the funeral, as I arrived early. I arranged some seats for her and her crew.”
Mashabela said as an organisation they did not want to “come between Moholo’s family and Dr Winny Mashaba” but Aesa members disrespected the chanteuse.
“Aesa must respect us and leave Dr Winny Mashaba alone. I even engaged Heptor Mailula and asked him about the treatment we received from his members. We are both leaders; we have to respect each other irrespective of whether we come from Limpopo or Gauteng. We went there to pay our last respects to the legendary Solly Moholo, not to visit Aesa,” he said.
Mashabela also defended Mashaba’s use of the aircraft.
“We believe Aesa should have engaged her before the funeral instead of stopping her from paying her respects at Akasia Hall. The Aesa lady told Winnie Mashaba she was given instructions to block her,” he said.
