BULAWAYO – Thousands of people packed into the Amphitheatre in Bulawayo on Sunday to pay their final respects to music star Cal_Vin, who was runover by a car on October 25.
The 34-year-old rapper, real name Calvin Mgcini Nhliziyo, was laid to rest at Lady Stanley Cemetery.
His final farewell began on Saturday when a see-through trailer hearse drove around Bulawayo with his body, finally stopping at Luveve 5 suburb where the singer grew up.
Police on Friday announced that they had arrested 28-year-old Wilfred Mafuka, who handed himself in over the hit-and-run killing of the singer.
Speaking at a funeral service before burial, Bulawayo mayor Solomon Mguni decried the fate of artists who die famous but poor.
“What have our artistes benefited from the music that they shared in their lifetime? It’s a wakeup call to all of us that we should appreciate artistes when they are alive,” Mguni said.
“It’s a pity when I look at Cal Vin’s life that he was still living at home. As a city, we’ve failed to honour or give respect to our artistes by at least giving them a stand so that they are able to leave something for their children.”
Many pointed out at the irony that in death, Cal_Vin staged his biggest gig yet with an estimated 5,000 people at his funeral service.
The Bebengakholwa hit maker had just left Cricket Club in Emakhandeni suburb where he watched a football match on the night of October 25 when he was runover by a car, identified as a white Mazda Familia with no number plates.
Cal_Vin, who was with his girlfriend and two others, was walking home nearby when the incident happened. The witnesses told his family that the vehicle knocked Cal_Vin slightly and in an apparent fit of rage, the singer had jumped on the vehicle’s bonnet demanding that the driver stops.
The driver, however, continued driving. The witnesses said after a short distance, the car appeared to pick up speed before the driver applied an emergency brake, throwing the singer off the vehicle before running him over.
South African hip hop star Cassper Nyovest has described Cal_Vin, with whom he collaborated on Z’khuphani, as an “icon”.
