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FAREWELL: Soweto’s dames and gents of the showbiz give all befitting tribute to the departed globe-trotting showman…
By Jacob Mawela
The glamour and glitz tribe of showbiz descended on the Soweto’s Communal Hall in Orlando East to bid farewell to one of its own – namely impresario extraordinaire, Thapelo Mofokeng, aka ‘Bra Taps’ on the Saturday of January 27 2024.
Resplendent in fashionable brogues and stilettos, the showbiz set came in droves to show of moral support for bereaved family of the well-travelled entertainer who donned many hats, invariably as a cabaret singer, actor, theatre producer and compere.
The celebrity snappers ranged from grand dames of showbiz in the ilk of Abigail Kubheka, Thembi
Nyandeni, Connie Chiume, Charmaine Modjadji, Wanda Majozi, Yvonne Chaka-Chaka, Nakedi
Ribane, Motshabi Tyelele, Desiree Chauke to seasoned bozos like Andy Chabeli (a longtime buddy of
Mofokeng from the Ipi Ntombi heydays), Sipho Mabuse, David Ramogase (a fellow Orlando East musician), Job Pooe, Zacharia Lamola, Jackie Masike, Big Boy Kholoane, Sandile Memela. And that is just a few of the notables from the gallery of the kasie entertainment world’s stars!
Albeit a sombre ceremony in keeping its nature, the assembly was also one voluble with live music performances and even theatrical renditions from the cast of Ipi Ntombi: The Now Generation – all in befitting tribute to the departed showman.
A stomping spectacle it was, with attendees all on their feet in song and impromptu dance whilst swaying to familiar beats with gay abandon!
Designated speakers waxed lyrically about the escapades and legacy of Mofokeng. SABC anchor and Orlando East home girl Desiree Chauke shared an anecdote of the departed personality and his late brother, Shimmy – an actor in the 1980s TV drama Mampodi, having been a part of her life whilst growing up.
For her part, Chaka-Chaka made an impassioned plea to artists to love one another; Memela recited a moving poem and Job Pooe, a long-standing acquaintance of Bra Taps, described the fallen martial artist as a “towering inferno” who was so God-fearing that he declared that he couldn’t sing songs attributed to people who spoke ill of God – after he once suggested that the crooner sing John Lennon’s Imagine.
Conducted amid a razzmatazz fervour, with socialite Terry Mokoena in charge of the day’s programme, proceedings culminated by midday in a long-winding cortege to Westpark Cemetery for the burial segment of the occasion.
Undeniably, Bra Taps was a recognisable household figure – thanks to a lifetime of hobnobbing with international celebrities from Las Vegas to Asia in his gloriously rich life.
He is said to have succumbed to a lung infection at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital on January 22. He was 74.
