Fassie's manager denies report
2004-05-24 09:51
Ziegfried Ekron, Abigail Isaacs
Cape Town - Brenda Fassie's manager threatened on Sunday to seek legal advice after a newspaper alleged that there was something sinister behind the singer's death.
The report claimed that there was a possibility that the drugs which Fassie used before her death had been laced with rat poison.
The report also claimed that Fassie's manager, Peter Snyman, said that he had evidence to prove these allegations, but Snyman denied any knowledge of this on Sunday.
"We did talk about the fact that drug dealers added other substances to drugs, but I never said Brenda took drugs the night before she was admitted to hospital or that the drugs had been tampered with."
He said the allegation that he and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela asked police to question a specific person, who visited Fassie that night, was also untrue.
"I did say that we want to speak to that person since she could shed more light on what happened."
The new storm over Fassie broke out shortly after South Africa said its last farewells to the singer on Saturday. President Thabo Mbeki was one of the VIPs who attended Fassie's funeral, which nearly ended in chaos.
Nine people were injured when the crowd surged into the VIP area where Fassie's body lay in a gold-coloured coffin.
About 10 000 people attended the service at Langa Stadium. Among the funeral goers were Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool, Cape Town mayor, Nomaindia Mfeketo, and Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan.