Johannesburg – The disclosure by legendary musician Steve Kekana’s manager that the artist died of Covid-19 complications has pitted him against his family.
Sunday World can reveal that Kekana’s family confronted his manager, Xolani Majozi, and reprimanded him for the disclosure.
They also allegedly banned him from Kekana’s memorial service which was held in Polokwane, Limpopo, on Tuesday and even excluded him from the list of dignitaries who paid tribute to the muso at his funeral service in Zebediela on Thursday.
News that Kekana’s funeral was tinged with a bit of behind-the-scenes drama was revealed by Kekana’s acquaintance who stumbled on the text message sent to Majozi by Kekana’s niece, Nerry Mojalefa.
In the messages, which Sunday World has seen, an angry Mojalefa ordered Majozi, who is the manager of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, to explain who informed him that Kekana died of Covid-19 complications.
It appears that Majozi disclosed that Kekana died of Covid-19 complications after speaking to the artist’s estranged wife Ntsiki Kekana.
“Please update me on who informed you that my uncle passed away from Covid complications?” reads the text.
When Majozi did not reply, Mojalefa fired another text message at him and told him that Ntsiki was upset with the disclosure.
“So now you can’t talk? What you did was wrong and you had no right. You know very well you weren’t sent to represent the family, yet alone [sic] spoke to rakgadi Ntsiki, she is very upset and you made matters worse. Who sent you to speak to the media in the first please?” she asked in the message.
Speaking to Sunday World, Mojalefa said she was still piqued at Majozi’s disclosure that Kekana died of Covid-19 complications.
“It is not even true that my uncle died of Covid-19. Even the woman who shared the bed with him on the day he went to hospital did not know what the issue was with my uncle and all of us still don’t know the cause of his death. So this means this guy just wanted to amass publicity by spreading lies about my uncle and he has not even apologised to the family for his misbehaviour,” said Mojalefa.
She added that Majozi’s disclosure that Kekana died of Covid-19 threw his funeral preparations into disarray as many people who wanted to attend the funeral ended staying away.
“We were also forced to observe the strictest Covid-19 regulations because of his reckless statement.
“Can you imagine that trauma he caused us,” she said.
Mojalefa also said Majozi, who was invited to the memorial services organised by Limpopo Artist Movement (LAM), did not attend as a result of the dispute and was not included on the programme as a speaker.
“He did not even come to the funeral,” she said.
LAM chairperson Mphoza Mashabale confirmed that they invited Majozi to the memorial, but he did not come.
Majozi confirmed that he did not attend the memorial because he was too busy.
“The service date clashed with my other commitments. I attended the funeral and no one raised this matter there,” he said.
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