Fassie's drugs 'poisoned'

2004-05-23 12:08

Johannesburg - An inquest has been launched into the death of singer Brenda Fassie after evidence that the crack cocaine she used was laced with rat poison, the Sunday Times reported.

Preliminary post-mortem results show the singer died of a drug overdose, but Peter Snyman, Fassie's manager, said he had evidence of the drugs having been tampered with.

Snyman and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, a friend of Fassie, are to ask the police to question a young woman - not her lover, Gloria Chaka - who visited her at her home in Sandton on April 25. That was the last occasion Fassie used crack cocaine. The next morning Fassie had an asthma attack and was rushed to the Sunninghill Clinic in Johannesburg. She lapsed into a coma from which she never recovered, and died on May 9 after her life support machines were turned off.

A drug dealer visited Fassie - who was in drug rehabilitation clinics 30 times - while she was in hospital, the newspaper said.

Snyman said a young man, now in a coma in a Johannesburg hospital, had also bought drugs from the dealer who supplied Fassie.

Drug dealers are known to add harmful substances to their merchandise to increase their bulk, and the dealers' profit.

Professor Hendrik Scholtz, the pathologist who conducted the post-mortem on Fassie, said his final results would be forwarded to the inquest magistrate within two weeks, the Sunday Times reported.

The newspaper also reported that the Western Cape government had turned down a number of family requests in connection with Fassie's funeral, including a request for designer clothing to wear at the service.

A funeral service for Fassie was held at the Langa Stadium, Cape Town on Saturday. President Thabo Mbeki addressed the mourners, saying South Africans had a responsibility to help those with drug addiction. Nine people were injured when the crowd surged into the VIP area where Fassie's body lay in a gold-coloured coffin.

- SAPA