As somber as the mood was at the memorial service of Mthobeli 'KCi' August at the Sandton Assemblies of God, tears were wiped by laughter.
Singing uplifting songs and speaking about the life and times of KCi, the spirit in the room rose in remembrance of the humorous broadcaster but so did his radio skits.
Although he used to perform them on his radio show in the early 2000s, they still got people laughing in 2024. Indeed, his work is timeless.
Throughout, ‘ithemba lam ndonyuka nalo mandigena endumisweni’ (translated as ‘I will rise with my faith as I enter a place of praise’) was a highly requested song by the speakers who were his family and friends as it was his favourite song to sing. Now that he’s no more, the lyrics hit differently.
Kickstarting the service off was the poetic isiXhosa news producer and anchor, Lilitha Ntsundwani who gracefully read KCi’s obituary in isiXhosa and praised him as one who was ahead of his time, nailing skits before TikTok days.
Facilitated by Luphumlo Ngcayisa and media personality Zizo Tshwete (nee Beda) who was reminded by almost every speaker how much KCi loved and adored her, the service started on an emotional note.
Read More | Former Mhlobo Wenene presenter KCi's remains to arrive in the EC today
Before anyone else could come up on stage, Luphumlo set the record straight on the cause of KCi’s death.
“We’re given the assurance by the experts who are still yet to confirm their own observations that this, in their opinion, in their words, it appears as though he had stepped out of the bath [tub] and they suspect that it could’ve been a panic or a heart attack and it appeared, based on their professional observation as people who are experienced in these circumstances, that it looks like he was reaching out for his phone and that is when he fell [to the ground].”
“We wish to appeal to everyone, in particular those who are hellbent in pushing this false narrative – I say it is false because there is no evidence that actually supports it, the postmortem has been conducted and those results will be pronounced [and so] it really wouldn’t hurt for his family to at least await those results.”
Getting into the business of the day, Luphumlo added to his address, describing how he met Mthobeli and grew to work with him and hold him dear to his heart, so did Zizo and the rest of the speakers.
One of the speakers was Palo Ernest Mokoena, who met KCi in 1997.
He starts by not only singing his favourite song ‘Ithemba lam’ but by also revealing that before KCi was on the radio airwaves, he was a producer who worked on a lot of local artists’ songs but would hardly be credited for it because of remuneration issues.
Read More | KCi sacked from his show
“All he needed was love, all he needed was just people to appreciate him. Unfortunately, with the likes of SABC and other institutions, especially in the entertainment industry and sports, they don’t know how to handle good talent because they say they are troublesome.
“SABC failed KCi, why I say this is because we shared a lot and he told me the names of the people who had failed him. I asked him that if anything happens next year (2024) and things change, are you going to go back to SABC again for uMhlobo Wenene and he said, ‘I can go back yesterday because till today, I can’t eve tell you why I was fired. These ones that got me fired, whenever their turn is over, they go to the likes of Gwede Mantashe to be reinstated at the SABC. Why is it that they can fire us like that?’”
Ernest adds that his friend was very vocal about how he left the SABC, and it was painful because he was still in love with what he was doing.
Before closing off his speech, he says that KCi died happy, nonetheless. On their last day together, he recalls him telling everyone who cared to listen how happy he was, and he expressed his gratitude for that day on their last phone call.
