WeeklySA_AdminRIFT:Tussle between singer’s live-in lover and ex-wife delayed proceedings
By Gugu Sibiya
After a lengthy delay, singer Pat Shange was finally laid to rest at West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg on Wednesday. The delay emanated from a family feud over who was eligible to bury him, his girlfriend Nozuko Phaka or daughter Ayanda after all.
Another bone of contention had been where the singer was going to be buried, from Soweto’s Protea North township or his hometown of Sweetwater in Pietermaritzburg, in accordance with his wishes.
The singer who was supposed to be buried last Thursday, but proceedings were delayed because of family rift, was finally laid to rest that this week. All his distraught daughter Ayanda could say prior to the burial, “We all wish that he should have a dignified send off. If only we could be united in purpose.”
Preparations for the singer’s burial were marred by a family feud which intensified when his girlfriend allegedly demanded the deceased’s ID. Shange and Patricia, his wife of 33 years, were divorced.
“She (Phaka) barred my mom (Patricia) and I from entering my home,” Ayanda said. “She then removed my father’s body from the undertaker I’d already chosen, to her service provider.
“I was trying to field calls, enquiring about conflicting messages when I learned that she’d already gone to SAMRO (an organisation that pays artists’ royalties) to claim funds. We believe the money was frozen when she failed to prove that my dad had paid lobola for her,” Ayanda said.
With sadness dripping off her voice, Patricia added her own voice of exasperation over the brouhaha: “I’m so disappointed at the manner in which things were handled since Pat’s death. Ayanda tried to carry out her father’s wishes but was frustrated every step of the way. As a result, her father’s funeral did not befit his stature. His legacy has been tarnished. He was buried like a pauper. Worse still, his wishes to be buried at home alongside his ancestors were undermined. My daughter is traumatised from all the drama. We all are. I pray that Pat rests in peace. In time we will put this nightmare behind us.”
In response, Shepherd Shange, Pat’s older brother, told Weekly SA Mirror that Ayanda was a child and therefore couldn’t be tasked with a huge responsibility like that.
“I’m here to bury my brother, that’s why I took over the reins. Patricia and Pat are divorced, so this had nothing to do with her. My brother has been buried and that’s what I wanted,” he said emphatically, avoiding the issue of the row between girlfriend and traditional wife.
Asked for comment, Nozuko Phaka denied chasing Pat’s ex-wife and child out of the home she shared with the late singer. “I would never do that. I don’t want to say much, except that I was waiting for Shepherd to arrange the funeral. That’s what baba wanted. Delaying the funeral was stressful.
She was adamant that since they had buried Shange together, the feud would be over. As for claiming funds from SAMRO, she said this was something they were working on as a family.
About what would happen to Pat’s house, she said she had not thought that far about what she was going to do with the matter.
