They’d been best of friends for almost 10 years and were inseparable. Late gospel star Lundi Tyamara and Thabiso Moloi had a lot of things in common: they were both gospel singers and their voices were similar.
“Even in his last days Lundi never lost his sense of humour and he would joke about his skin changing colour and getting lighter because he was born-again,” Thabiso says.
He says when Lundi was first admitted to hospital on Sunday 4 December, he had already stopped drinking months earlier and joked about being born-again for the third time.
“We were almost like brothers. If there was something wrong with him or he had news to share, I was the first person he called and he would even call during awkward hours of the night demanding attention,” Thabiso adds.
He was one of Lundi’s closest friends who visited him regularly in hospital. Although he reveals that a few days before he passed away, Lundi’s family denied him access.
“On Tuesday I arrived at the hospital to see him, his family told me that I was not allowed to see him. I was distraught. I sat in the hospital’s waiting room and was chatting to him on WhatsApp.”
Thabiso says he doesn’t think Lundi knew he was not allowed inside.
“He sent me a text and said: ‘You have not come to see me, undilahlile (have you abandoned me)?’ and I told him I would never do that.”
He did, however, attend a prayer meeting held for Lundi the day before he passed away and he says he had hoped he would recover.
“Although Lundi was in a lot of pain, it is hard to believe he is no more. I have had to take sleeping pills to try and cope,” Thabiso says.
Not only did he and Lundi sing together, but they had adopted 10 families to whom they gave food parcels every month, Thabiso shares.