Many knew about their friendship but very few got to witness it. One of these few is Sthe Mabanga.
Among tributes shared at Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane's memorial service, Sthe detailed how close Tebello and AKA, real name Kiernan Forbes, were.
Zozo, as Sthe affectionately refers to Tebello, had a spot so soft for AKA that even when they were not on talking terms, Tebello would still show up for Supermega.
“[Tebello] always called him his kid. Even if they were not talking at some point, he’d call me and say, ‘you know my younging, uyahlupha lo (Kiernan is troublesome) but let me go see him’. That’s him.”
In the same way, Chef Tibz also showed up for Sthe. On the Friday that he met his untimely death, Sthe tells the room full of shattered hearts, Tebello had flown down to Durban for his 40th birthday.
“Tibz flew to Durban to be with me on my birthday. That’s why he was there.”
Throughout the day, the two had been calling each other. At 6.30pm on one of their calls, Sthe told Tebello to come to where he was having drinks with all their other friends.
With AKA also celebrating his birthday in the same city, Tebello took a detour just before going to Sthe’s pre-birthday celebrations at The Pencil in Umhlanga.
“Nah, I gotta go see Kiernan. I’m gonna go to Florida [road] real quick then, I’m gonna see the kid then I’m gonna come to you,” Sthe remembers his saying.
The next time they spoke again was around 9pm when he also told one of their friends who was supposed to meet with Tebello to come to Umhlanga because Tibz would be joining them later on.
Read More | ‘Tebello was an incredible gentle giant’ – former biology teacher remembers Chef Tibz
Taking himself back to the fateful night, Sthe battled to hold back tears. In less than two hours, “The news just started streaming in. It felt like the world had just stopped. Nothing made sense, all I could see was see that smile,” Sthe recalls as he turned to look at Tebello’s face on the screen behind him.
“We stopped everything we were doing. We drove with our lives to where he was.”
The shattered Sthe appreciated two of the guys that had been part of AKA’s entourage for quickly covering the award-winning hip-hop artist after their attack and looking after Tibz until they arrived at the scene.
“We were with them the whole time until they were taken about 03:30 in the morning.”
For Sthe, being at the scene after the tragedy, “was an incredible experience. But it also showed me the bond that the two of them had. It showed me the love that they had. Tibz loved Kiernan.”
In hindsight, Sthe says he hoped that Tebello had missed the flight to Durban on that day.
“If there was something he had ghosted me on, I wish it was that one (his birthday).”
The previous week, Sthe had spent the Sunday with Tebello at a market in Cape Town. Although it got cold as it got dark, they didn't want to go home. It was as though they knew that it would be the last time they break bread together, he says.
Amongst those in attendance of the memorial service at Sacred Heart College was AKA’s family including AKA’s girlfriend Nadia Nakai and Kairo's mother DJ Zinhle.
