Hundreds of mourners filled the Grace Bible Church in Soweto on Tuesday to pay an emotional tribute to late gospel icon Lundi Tyamara.
The star‚ who died last Friday after suffering from liver complications and stomach TB‚ was honoured with a memorial service attended by several dignitaries and musicians.
It was a sad occasion with many mourners in tears as tributes given by the likes of Reverend Benjamin Dube‚ Rebecca Malope and Deborah Fraser told intimate stories of Lundi.
Here’s five emotional moments from the memorial:
A minute of silence for Lundi
Near the conclusion of the service‚ a minute’s silence was held in Lundi’s honour. For the first time in nearly three hours the hall fell completely silent and tears flowed.
The capacity crowd that had only a few minutes earlier been singing and dancing in the passages to praise and worship‚ bowed their heads in deep respect.
Rebecca Malope breaks down as she sings for Lundi
Rebecca Malope was Lundi’s mentor and she took to the stage during the memorial to pay tribute to him.
Starting out at one end of the stage‚ she made her way to a banner of Lundi‚ singing the words “farewell my son. I kiss you goodbye” and then breaking down in tears.
A touching tribute from Deborah Fraser
Another gospel icon who mentored Lundi was Deborah Fraser. Deborah took to the stage to speak about her love for Lundi.
“Lundi changed lives. I thank God that I had the chance to meet him‚” Deborah said during an emotional speech where she referred to Lundi as her son.
Ayanda Ncwane pays her respects
According to Zulu tradition‚ Sfiso Ncwane’s widow Ayanda is still in mourning. But that did not stop her from attending the memorial service to pay tribute to Lundi. Lundi had helped Sfiso break into the industry and Ayanda’s son had recently revealed that Lundi’s death had greatly affected Ayanda.
She spent most of the service fighting back tears.
>https://twitter.com/TshisaLIVE/status/826419560945426432?ref–src=twsrc%5EtfwFamily members sob as tributes are paid
Several of Lundi’s family members were in attendance at the memorial and a few of them struggled to hold back tears as they listened to tributes being paid on stage.
Lundi’s brother Siyabonga was originally asked to give a short address at the memorial but was not strong enough to speak. Instead Lundi’s cousin gave a speech while Siyabonga stood next to her trying not to break down in tears.
>https://twitter.com/TshisaLIVE/status/826418637443571712?ref–src=twsrc%5Etfw>https://twitter.com/TshisaLIVE/status/826418559546957827?ref–src=twsrc%5Etfw