Memorial Service for Late Sports Stars Underway

• Author: Nthambeleni Gabara

The Standard Bank Arena in Johannesburg is this afternoon reverberating with vuvuzela’s and songs praising the three late sporting heroes, Senzo Meyiwa, Phindile Mwelase and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi.

South Africans from all backgrounds, sports stars and delegates from the sporting fraternity, are gathered at the arena to honour their fallen sporting icons at a joint memorial service.

Dressed in their respective teams regalia and waving the South African flag, in a celebratory mood, the mourners sang: “Senzo Meyiwa, ahuna ya tswana le wena, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi ahuna ya tswana le wena, Phindi Mwelase, Phindi Mwelase, ahuna ya tswana le wena. Robala ka Kgotso Mbulaeni, Robala ka Kgotso Meyiwa, Ro bala ka Kgotso Phindi!”

In an exclusive interview with SAnews, a teary former Orlando Pirates striker Phumudzo Manenzhe said it was hard to lose such a close friend as Mulaudzi, who died in a car accident near Johannesburg, on Friday.

He was the most successful South African two-lap athlete of all time.

Manenzhe comes from the same area as Mulaudzi in Sinthumule/Kutama, outside Makhado, in Limpopo.

“It is very sad to lose a ‘home boy’ like Mbulaeni. We grew up in the same area and when we...