'We didn't see it coming at all, Nichume was a fighter' - Mobi Dixon

After spending three years fine-tuning Nichume, honing and toning her craft, DJ Mobi Dixon, real name Mabi Ntuli, fails to make sense of why the late house vocalist took her life.

Nichume was on the brink of a promising music career when she was found dead at Greenstone, Edenvale. She was signed to Top Chap Media owned by Mobi.

He flies down to East London to see her family today.

"It [her suicide] does make sense. I'm a witness to a series of events leading up to this. The ancestors and God were trying to tell us and prepare us.

"So many things happened, and one of them is that we recorded a song called Camagu with Naakmusic. In it Nichume sings about amadlozi [ancestors] and amasiko [customs]. Now she is idlozi [ancestor]."

"We didn't see it coming at all. We knew about the depression and that she was seeing doctors and taking medication but we never thought she'd go so far. We thought she was in control. She was a fighter."

The stress has been taking its toll on Mobi as well as a lack of sleep.

"I have body pains. It's been very tough spiritually, physically and mentally."

He said there were more ups and downs in their business relationship.

"We were at the beginning stages, getting her ready to fly on her own. Little did we know that we were preparing her to fly to heaven. We spent three years grooming her to be on her own not as Mobi's girl."

He said Nichume's death was a big loss to the music industry ... purely because of her potential, talent and voice.

"She had so much to offer. She was really at a point where she was ready to be her own person. She had found her voice, it doesn't happen overnight. It's not everyday the music industry opens doors to a new artist, and she was getting started.

"If she was really so unhappy on earth that she would take her own life, all I wish for her is happiness."

"I'd like for people to draw a lesson from her life, especially when it comes to challenges of life that lead to depression.

" I don't know how we can drive this narrative, I don't have the answers right now, but I want her life to be a lesson so that others may not suffer or end in the manner that it did for her. Also deepest condolences to the Siwundla family, her friends and colleagues and fans who were just starting to get to know her," said Mobi.