RIP, Mandoza: kwaito star loses the battle against cancer

PHOTO: Martin de Kock

Mandoza, who became a star across the South African spectrum with his runaway hit Nkalakatha in 2000, recently discovered the cancer he thought he had beaten last year had returned.

The singer, whose real name was Mduduzi Tshabalala, was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a cancer that attacks the tissue in the upper part of the throat behind the nose.

A tumour pressing on his orbital nerve had caused Mandoza to go blind – but it wasn’t enough stop him performing in Orlando last Saturday. He was helped on stage by friends, much to the crowd’s frenzied delight.

A spokesperson from Mandoza's management company, Eaton Inc, confirmed to YOU that the kwaito star had passed but added they would not be making further statements at this stage.

In a touching interview with YOU just days before her husband’s passing, Mpho Tshabalala was full of hope that her husband would beat the disease. “There is still so much he needs to do,” she says. “He wants to watch his son become a soccer star. He still needs to walk his daughter down the aisle.”

Our hearts go out his wife and four children.

PHOTO: Martin de Kock

The song that made him a household name in SA.

For the full interview with Mpho, see this week’s YOU, on sale now.