The Battle At Sfiso's Graveside

Snubbed mother, rejected daughter, embattled pastor – the shock of Sfiso Ncwane’s sudden death had barely passed before old feuds flared up again.

- Zama Chutshela

EVEN IN the midst of tragedy, longstanding family feuds drag on. Sfiso Ncwane’s family managed to present a united front when his death was announced but by the funeral, the cracks were beginning to show.

On Monday 5 December, the gospel star passed away from kidney failure in the arms of his wife, Ayanda, at Johannesburg’s Life Fourways Hospital. Five days later, he was buried at Lala Kahle Cemetery in Hillcrest, Durban.

High-profile personalities and friends tried to encourage the family to keep away from the media, but after two memorial services in Durban and Johannesburg and the actual funeral service, some family members can no longer contain themselves.

Sfiso’s mother, Fikile Irene Ncwane, speaks to us at the funeral held at Moses Mabhida Stadium. She’s very emotional when she tells us people are already blaming her for not donating a kidney to Sfiso.

“I did not even know my son had a kidney problem until we were told he died of kidney failure,” she says. “I want people to know that Sfiso never asked me for a kidney. And I never referred him to Pastor [Reverend Francis] Anosike because I didn’t even know he had a kidney problem.”

Sfiso credited Rev. Anosike with saving his life once before: Two years ago, the singer suffered from acute heart trouble which brought him close to death, and he credited the Reverend’s prayers with healing him. In September last year, Sfiso gave the pastor a Mercedes-Benz GL 63 AMG V8, worth R1,9 million.