This follows startling news that Isaac “Shakes” Kungwane has passed-on.
Mahlangu shared the news to me at the 10th Year Celebration of Black Brains Production at Melrose Arch, last night.
“We were at work when our bosses called his family to inform them about ‘Shakes’ situation before he was taken to hospital. But before that, they called the medical team to check on him to determine what could be the problem.
As they realise they couldn’t do much he was transferred to hospital for further assessment and unfortunately, that’s where he was declared dead,” says the SuperSport United player, who worked with “Shakes” at SuperSport as football analyst, using both English and kasi taal which made him more admired with fans.
“We looked up to guys like abo-Shakes when we came to Chiefs, and since our interaction then that guy was always full of smiles. I will forever miss his humor and that ‘swaggerish’ walk.
May His Soul rest in Peace,” commented Mahlangu with a heavy heart, in company of his gorgeous wife Thwana.
“Mshege” as he was also known was 43. He played for Chiefs, Manning Rangers and Cosmos, and was assistant coach at Mpumalanga Aces, respectively.
As a result of his trademark passing the ball looking the other way, the left-footed player was included in the Bafana Bafana squad.
“Shake’s passing is indeed very sad and hurting. His untimely death has surely sent shockwaves to all sport loving people throughout the country especially within the soccer fraternity.
An incredible talent on the field and one of the last few players who displayed the style of football which drew large crowds to the stadia only mastered by greats like Ace Ntsoelengoe, Jomo Sono, Professor Mlungisi Ngubane to mention a few”, says newly appointed MEC for Sport in Gauteng Molebatsi Bopape.
“With just less than a week following the start of the new term of office in the portfolio of sport, on behalf of the Gauteng government and its people we want to express our deepest condolences to the Kungawne family, friends and the sport loving people of our country.
We should indeed celebrate his talent, character and wittiness and may his charming soul rest in peace.”
The Alaxandra born was popular with locals and football enthusiasts countrywide for his wittiness and charm.
He is survived by his wife and three children.
Meanwhile, we also mourn the passing-on of international legend, poet, writer and academic Maya Angelou.
She died at the age of 86 yesterday.
On behalf of our board of trustees and staff, the Nelson Mandela Foundation mourns the passing of Maya Angelou,” spokeswoman Danielle Melville said in a statement.
Angelou, who rose from poverty, segregation, and violence to become a force on stage, screen and the printed page, died at the age of 86.
Wake Forest University, where Angelou worked as a professor of American Studies since 1982, announced her death in a news release on Wednesday.
Melville said Mandela met Angelou in Cairo, Egypt in 1962, while he was garnering support for the armed struggle and undergoing military training.
Angelou was married to Pan Africanist Congress activist, Vusumzi Make, at the time.
“Our archives reveal that today in 1986 Mr Mandela watched in prison the film version of her work ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’,” she said.
“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” became standard (and occasionally censored) reading, and was the first of a multipart autobiography that continued through the decades.
Mandela met the poet again in Washington in 1993, when he was released from prison and attended the inauguration of former United States President Bill Clinton.
“He told Richard Stengel, his collaborator on his autobiography ‘Long Walk to Freedom’, that he telephoned her in her hotel after she had ‘delivered a very powerful poem’,” said Melville.
Angelou also wrote and dedicated a poem to Mandela, titled “His Day is Done”, when he died in December last year.
“Nelson Mandela’s day is done. The news, expected and still unwelcome, reached us in the United States, and suddenly our world became sombre.
Our skies were leadened,” read some of the lines of the poem.
