Family and friends of Kwaito legend, Tokollo ‘Magesh’ Tshabalala have gathered at the Rhema Bible Church in Randburg, Johannesburg, to bid farewell to the star.
Magesh’s death shocked his family, friends, the industry and his fans - the “Fiasco” hitmaker died on Monday, August 15 after suffering an epileptic seizure.
At the funeral, the Orlando Pirates Football Club choir started off the ceremony before Magesh’s body was brought into the church by his family.
The emotional moment was captured with his most popular song “Shibobo / The Final Countdown” .
Leading the proceeding for the service was Victor Ramatisile on behalf of the Tshabalala family.
Magesh’s former band member, Pastor Kabelo Mabalane paid tribute to the musical prodigy.
“In the past week I’ve just been reflecting and time is a fascinating concept. Three weeks ago we were performing in Mpumalanga and if my maths serves me correctly, Tokollo only had 504 hours left on this earth, and I didn’t know it.
“It made me reflect to the five minutes before I met him, I can tell you that after meeting him my life was never ever the same. I wailed like a little child this week in my wife’s arms.
“My life was impacted, the direction of my life changed and it was never ever to be the same again after I met Tokollo,” he said.
He said music was always the common denominator in their lives.
“We would fight, we would be the best of friends but it was music, it was always music that connected us. Before TKzee, there was ‘2-Slice’, we only had one song, it wasn’t a hit. I don’t even remember the name,” he said.
He reminisced about how the two bunked school to go and record the song that they believed “was going to change the world“.
In his parting words, he said: “Magesh, We changed the world, we toured the world, we got arrested, we fought, we cried, we drove over 200+ kms per hour on the highway, we won big and we lost big, we’ve lived five life times in 30 years that I’ve known you, what a ride it has been, rest in peace my n****, see you when I get there.”
Watch the full funeral proceedings below: